Alan Hirschfield, who led Columbia Pictures in 1970s, dies at 79

Alan Hirschfield, a former entertainment executive who helped make the 1970s movies 'Close Encounters ofthe Third Kind' and 'Taxi Driver,' has died. He was 79.

Son Marc Hirschfield said the former chief executive of Columbia Pictures died Thursday at his home in Wilson, Wyoming, of natural causes.

Hirschfield held the post at Columbia from 1973 to 1978 and was chairman of Twentieth Century Fox from 1982 to 1986.

Marc Hirschfield says his father also started Arista Records with music executive Clive Davis.

Hirschfield was ousted at Columbia after he opposed the reinstatement of studio boss David Begelman, who embezzled more than $61,000, on moral grounds.

Hirschfield was born in New York and raised in Oklahoma.

He is survived by his wife, Berte, three children, and six grandchildren.