Bill Kerby died on the same day as Mark Rydell, the director who made The Rose from Kerby's script. Kerby died Aug. 13 on Whidbey Island in Washington state. He was 88.
He had been in hospice care at home but had fallen and suffered a fracture, producer John Ptak, his longtime agent, told The Hollywood Reporter. Kerby wrote the first draft of The Rose, the 1979 Bette Midler rock drama that earned four Oscar nominations.