Scott Marshall Smith, the screenwriter whose credits included the Robert De Niro films Men of Honor and The Score, has died, his family said Tuesday. He was 62.
Smith was finishing work on his latest movie, the psychological thriller Wasatch when he suffered a stroke. No further details were provided.
Born in Monterey, CA, raised in the Midwest and a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Smith began his entertainment career working for commercial and music video director Bob Giraldi. He later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a writing career.
After a stint working at Panavision Hollywood, Smith saw his first script land at Fox 2000. It was Men of Honor, a biopic about Carl Brashear, the first African American Navy diver. Cuba Gooding Jr. played Brashear alongside De Niro, and George Tillman Jr. directed the film, which was released in 2000. His next screenplay became Paramount’s The Score, the 2001 crime drama directed by Frank Oz and starring De Niro, Marlon Brando, Edward Norton, and Angela Bassett.
