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Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (June 2, 1944 – August 6, 2012) was an American composer and conductor. He is one of a handful of people to win Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, Academy Awards, and Tony Awards awards, a feat dubbed the "EGOT". He and composer Richard Rodgers are the only people to have won those prizes and a Pulitzer Prize ("PEGOT").
His first film score was for 1968's The Swimmer. He also wrote music for several early Woody Allen films, including Take the Money and Run (1969) and Bananas (1971).
Hamlisch and Liebling co-wrote the song "California Nights", which was recorded by Lesley Gore for her 1967 hit album of the same name. The Bob Crewe-produced single peaked at No. 16 on the Hot 100 in March 1967, two months after Gore had performed the song on the Batman television series, in which she guest-starred as an accomplice to Julie Newmar's Catwoman.
Among Hamlisch's better-known works during the 1970s were adaptations of Scott Joplin's ragtime music for the film The Sting, including its theme song, "The Entertainer". It hit No. 1 on Billboards Adult Contemporary chart and No. 3 on the Hot 100, selling nearly 2 million copies in the U.S. alone. He had great success in 1973, winning two Academy Awards for the title song and the score for the motion picture The Way We Were and an Academy Award for the adaptation score for The Sting. He won four in 1974, two for "The Way We Were".
In 1975, he wrote the original theme music for Good Morning America; the show used it for 12 years. He co-wrote "Nobody Does It Better" for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) with his then-girlfriend Carole Bayer Sager, which would be nominated for an Oscar. In the 1980s, he had success with the scores for Ordinary People (1980) and Sophie's Choice (1982). He also received an Academy Award nomination in 1986 for the film version of A Chorus Line.
In 1985, he worked on D.A.R.Y.L., a 1985 film about a boy who is in fact a U.S. military robot. He also worked on the score for The Informant! (2009), starring Matt Damon and directed by Steven Soderbergh. Late in his life, he wrote a children's book Marvin Makes Music, which included the original music "The Music in My Mind" with words by Rupert Holmes; and the score for the HBO film Behind the Candelabra (2013), also directed by Soderbergh and starring Matt Damon and Michael Douglas as Liberace.
He then composed the scores for the 1975 Broadway theatre musical A Chorus Line, for which he won both a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize; and for the 1978 musical They're Playing Our Song, loosely based on his relationship with Carole Bayer Sager.
At the beginning of the 1980s, his romantic relationship with Bayer Sager ended, but their songwriting relationship continued. The 1983 musical Jean Seberg, based on the life of the real-life actress, failed in its London production at the UK's National Theatre and never played in the U.S.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> "Hamlisch biography.Broadway:The American Musical" PBS, retrieved August 18, 2011. In 1986, Smile was a mixed success and had a short run on Broadway. The musical version of Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl (1993) closed after only 188 performances, although he received a Drama Desk nomination, for Outstanding Music. " The Goodbye Girl", IMDb, retrieved August 18, 2011.
Shortly before his death, Hamlisch finished scoring a musical theatre version of The Nutty Professor, based on the 1963 film. The show played in July and August 2012, at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) in Nashville, aiming for a Broadway run. The book is by Rupert Holmes, and the production was directed by Jerry Lewis.Jones, Kenneth (August 17, 2012). "Producers of Nutty Professor Hope to Earn Broadway Tenure for New Marvin Hamlisch-Rupert Holmes Show" . Playbill. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
Hamlisch held the position of Principal Pops Conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, "Conductors: Marvin Hamlisch". Pittsburgh Symphony. Retrieved April 2, 2009. the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, "Marvin Plays Marvin". . Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved August 18, 2011. the San Diego Symphony, "Musicians and Conductors" . San Diego Symphony. Retrieved August 18, 2011. the Seattle Symphony, "Holiday POPS! with Marvin Hamlisch" Seattle Symphony, Retrieved August 18, 2011. the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, "Conductors" . Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Retrieved August 18, 2011. Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, The National Symphony Orchestra Pops, The Pasadena Symphony and Pops, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
On July 23, 2011, Hamlisch conducted his debut concert for Pasadena Symphony and Pops at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Hamlisch replaced Rachael Worby. At the time of his death, he was preparing to assume responsibilities as Principal Pops Conductor for The Philly Pops.
He shared the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1976 with Michael Bennett, James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, and Edward Kleban for his musical contribution to the original Broadway production of A Chorus Line. Hamlisch received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 at the World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent, Belgium. He was also inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2008. "The Long Island Music Hall of Fame Second Induction Award Gala on October 30 at the Garden City Hotel" . Long Island Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 18, 2011. In 2008, he appeared as a judge in the Canadian reality series Triple Sensation which aired on CBC. The show was aimed to provide a training to a talented young man or woman with the potential to be a leader in song, dance, and acting. In 2008, Hamlisch was also inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
In May 1989, Hamlisch married Terre Blair, from Columbus, Ohio, who was the news presenter for that city's ABC affiliate, WSYX-Channel 6. "Marvin Hamlisch to Marry Ms. Blair, Producer, in May", The New York Times. March 19, 1989.Laufenberg, Norbert B. Hamlisch, Marvin Entertainment Celebrities. Trafford Publishing. (2005) p. 285. . The marriage lasted until his death.
The Associated Press described him as having written "some of the best-loved and most enduring songs and scores in movie history". Barbra Streisand released a statement praising Hamlisch, stating it was "his brilliantly quick mind, his generosity and delicious sense of humor that made him a delight to be around". Aretha Franklin called him "classic and one of a kind", and one of the "all-time great" arrangers and producers. The head of the Pasadena Symphony and Pops commented that Hamlisch had "left a very specific ... original mark on American music and added to the great American songbook with works he himself composed".
At 8:00 p.m. EDT on August 8, the marquee lights of the 40 Broadway theaters were dimmed for one minute in tribute to Hamlisch, an honor traditionally accorded upon their death to those considered to have made significant contributions to the theater arts.
Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, and Liza Minnelli took turns singing songs by Hamlisch during a memorial service for the composer on September 18, 2012. At the 2013 Academy Awards, Streisand sang "The Way We Were" in Hamlisch's memory. On June 2, 2013, a tribute was held in New York City to remember Hamlisch in advance of the first anniversary of his death. At the tribute, Staples Players, a high school theatre group from Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut performed a selection of material from A Chorus Line. Other veterans of the screen and stage also performed at the event.
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra performed a rare Hamlisch classical symphonic suite titled Anatomy of Peace ( Symphonic Suite in one Movement For Full Orchestra/Chorus/Child Vocal Soloist) on November 19, 1991.Brozan, Nadine (November 19, 1991). "Chronicle", The New York Times. It was also performed at Carnegie Hall in 1993, and in Paris in 1994 to commemorate D-Day.Croan, Robert (May 30, 1994). "Hamlisch Symphony". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 19. The work was recorded by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1992. "Dallas Symphony Orchestra Discography" . Dallas Symphony. p. 4, Retrieved February 4, 2010. The Anatomy of Peace was a book by Emery Reves which expressed the World government sentiments shared by Albert Einstein and many others in the late 1940s, in the period immediately following World War II.
Work
Orchestral work
Hamlisch was the primary conductor for the Pittsburgh Pops from 1995 until his death.
Theatre
1973 Seesaw Dance Arrangements 1975 A Chorus Line Music by Pulitzer Prize for Drama & Tony Award for Best Score 1978 They're Playing Our Song Music by 1983 Jean Seberg Music by 1986 Smile Music by 1993 The Goodbye Girl Music by 2002 Sweet Smell of Success Music by 2002 Imaginary Friends Music by 2012 The Nutty Professor Music by
Film
1968 The Swimmer 1969 Take the Money and Run 1969 The April Fools 1970 Move 1970 Flap 1971 Something Big 1971 Kotch 1971 Bananas 1972 The War Between Men and Women 1973 The World's Greatest Athlete 1973 Save the Tiger 1973 The Way We Were 1973 The Sting 1975 The Prisoner of Second Avenue 1977 The Spy Who Loved Me
1977 The Absent-Minded Waiter 1978 Same Time, Next Year 1978 Ice Castles 1979 Starting Over 1979 Chapter Two 1980 Seems Like Old Times 1980 Ordinary People 1980 Gilda Live
1982 Sophie's Choice 1982 I Ought to Be in Pictures 1983 Romantic Comedy 1984 A Streetcar Named Desire 1985 D.A.R.Y.L. 1985 A Chorus Line 1987 When the Time Comes 1988 Sam Found Out: A Triple Play 1988 Little Nikita 1988 David 1989 The January Man 1989 Shirley Valentine 1989 The Experts 1990 1991 Switched at Birth 1991 Missing Pieces 1991 Frankie and Johnny 1994 Seasons of the Heart 1996 The Mirror Has Two Faces 2003 How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days 2009 The Informant! 2013 Behind the Candelabra Posthumous release
See also
Further reading
External links
Categories: 1944 Births, 2012 Deaths, 20th-century American Jews, 21st-century American Jews, American Film Score Composers, American Musical Theatre Composers, American People Of Austrian-jewish Descent, American Television Composers, Ascap Composers And Authors, Best Original Music Score Academy Award Winners, Best Original Song Academy Award–winning Songwriters, Broadway Composers And Lyricists, Burials At Mount Zion Cemetery, Composers From New York City, Deaths From Hypoxia, Drama Desk Award Winners, Golden Globe Award–winning Musicians, Grammy Award Winners, Jewish American Film Score Composers, Jewish American Songwriters, Jewish American Television Composers, Juilliard School Pre-college Division Alumni, American Male Musical Theatre Composers, Neurological Disease Deaths In California, Musicians From Manhattan, Primetime Emmy Award Winners, Pulitzer Prize For Drama Winners, Queens College, City University Of New York Alumni, Songwriters From New York, Tony Award Winners
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