Marvin Hamlisch

Marvin Hamlisch

Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (born June 2, 1944) is an American composer. He is one of only two people to have been awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize (the other is Richard Rodgers). Hamlisch has also won a Golden Globe.

Biography

Early life and career

Hamlisch was born in New York City to Viennese Jewish parents: Lilly Schachter and Max Hamlisch. His father was an accordionist and bandleader. Hamlisch was a child prodigy, and by age five he began mimicking music he heard on the radio on the piano. A few months before he turned seven, in 1951, he was accepted into what is now the Juilliard School Pre-College Division. However, anxiety issues kept him from pursuing a career as a concert pianist, leading instead to composition, specifically for film and theatre. His first job was as a rehearsal pianist for Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand. Shortly after that, he was hired by producer Sam Spiegel to play piano at Spiegel's parties. This connection led to his first film score, The Swimmer.

Hamlisch later attended night classes at Queens College. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967. In 2007, he received the Q Award, presented to Queens College alumni who have served as role models for the college.

Film and composer

Although Liza Minnelli's debut album included a song written in his teens, his first hit did not come until he was 21 years old. This song, Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows, was sung by Lesley Gore. (The song later figured prominently in the "Marge on the Lam" episode of The Simpsons) His first film score was for The Swimmer although he had done some music for films as early as 1965. Later he wrote music for several Woody Allen early films, such as Take the Money and Run. In addition, Hamlisch co-wrote the song "California Nights" with Howard Liebling, which was recorded by Lesley Gore on her 1967 hit album of the same name. The song was on the pop charts as high as number 16.

Among his best known works during the 1970s were adaptations of Scott Joplin's ragtime music for the motion picture The Sting, including its theme song, "The Entertainer". He had great success with The Way We Were in 1974, winning two of his three 1974 Academy Awards. He also won four Grammy Awards in 1974, two for "The Way We Were." He co-wrote "Nobody Does It Better" for the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me with his then-girlfriend Carole Bayer Sager. (John Barry was unable to work in the United Kingdom due to tax reasons.) He also wrote the orchestral/disco score for the film, which was re-recorded for the album. The song went on to be nominated for an Oscar in 1977.

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 2003 Hamlisch appeared in a cameo role (portraying himself) in the film How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

Stage

He composed the score for the 1975 Broadway musical A Chorus Line, for which he won both a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize, and They're Playing Our Song, loosely based on his relationship with Carole Bayer Sager. His other stage work has been met with mixed reception.

At the beginning of the 1980s, his romantic relationship with Bayer Sager ended, but their songwriting relationship continued. The 1983 musical Jean Seberg, on the tragic life of the actress, failed in its London production at the UK's National Theatre and never played in the US. In 1986, Smile was a mixed success, but he did gain some note for the song Disneyland. 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.

Conductor

Currently, he is Principal Pops Conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra (the first person to hold this position), the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, and most recently, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, starting in 2009—10.

Honors and awards

He is one of only ten people to win all four major US performing awards, Emmy Award, Grammy Award, the Oscar and Tony Award. He and Richard Rodgers are the only two to have won all four plus a Pulitzer Prize.

He has received ten Golden Globe Award nominations, winning twice for Best Original Song, with Life Is What You Make It in 1972 and The Way We Were in 1974.

He has received six Emmy Award nominations, winning four times, twice for music direction of Barbra Streisand specials, in 1995 and 2001.

He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

In 2008, he appeared as a judge in the Canadian reality series "Triple Sensation" which aired on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). The show was aimed to provide a training bursary to a talented youth who could be a leader in song, dance, and acting.

Work

Theatre

• Seesaw (1973) [Dance Arrangements]
• A Chorus Line (Pulitzer Prize for Drama) (1975)
• They're Playing Our Song (1978)
• Jean Seberg (1983)
• Smile (1986)
• The Goodbye Girl (1993)
• Sweet Smell of Success: The Musical (2002)
• Imaginary Friends (2002)

Film

• The Swimmer (1968)
• Ski Party (1968)
• Take the Money and Run (1969)
• The April Fools (1969)
• Move (1970)
• Flap (1970)
• Something Big (1971)
• Kotch (1971)
• Bananas (1971)
• The War Between Men and Women (1972)
• Fat City (1972)
• Liza with a Z (1972)
• The World's Greatest Athlete (1973)
• Save the Tiger (1973)
• The Way We Were (1974)
• The Sting (1974)
• The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975)

• Funny Lady (1975)
• The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
• The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977)
• Same Time, Next Year (1978)
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1978)
• Ice Castles (1978)
• Starting Over (1979)
• Chapter Two (1979)
• Seems Like Old Times (1980)
• Ordinary People (1980)
• Gilda Live (1980)
• Sophie's Choice (1982)
• I Ought To Be In Pictures (film) (1982)
• Romantic Comedy (1983)
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1984)
• DARYL (1985)
• A Chorus Line (1985)
• When the Time Comes (1987)

• Corey Mays (1989)
• Josh Howard (1987)
• Three Men and a Baby (1987)
• The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987)
• Sam Found Out: A Triple Play (1988)
• Little Nikita (1988)
• David (1988)
• The January Man (1989)
• Shirley Valentine (1989)
• The Experts (1989)
• Women and Men: Stories of Seduction (1990)
• Switched at Birth (1991)
• Missing Pieces (1991)
• Frankie and Johnny (1991)
• Seasons of the Heart (1994)
• The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)
• The Informant! (2009)

Academy Awards

• 1997 Nominee, Best Original Song - "I Finally Found Someone" from The Mirror Has Two Faces
• 1990 Nominee, Best Original Song - "The Girl Who Used To Be Me" from Shirley Valentine
• 1986 Nominee, Best Original Song - "Surprise Surprise" from A Chorus Line
• 1983 Nominee, Best Original Score - Sophie's Choice
• 1980 Nominee, Best Original Song - "Through The Eyes of Love" from Ice Castles
• 1979 Nominee, Best Original Song - "The Last Time I Felt Like This" from Same Time Next Year
• 1978 Nominee, Best Original Score - The Spy Who Loved Me
• 1978 Nominee, Best Original Song - "Nobody Does It Better" from The Spy Who Loved Me
• 1973 Winner, Best Original Dramatic Score - The Way We Were
• 1973 Winner, Best Original Song - "The Way We Were" from The Way We Were
• 1973 Winner, Best Original Song Score and/or Adaptation - The Sting
• 1972 Nominee, Best Original Song - "Life Is What You Make It" from Kotch

Trivia

In 1973, he became the second person to win three Academy Awards in the same evening after Billy Wilder in 1960.

In 1996, in his HBO stand-up special, comedian Jon Stewart mentioned Hamlisch during a bit about an appearance on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. Stewart claims that he and Hamlisch were sitting backstage during the beginning of the show, when Kathie Lee intimated that no one in the audience knew who the (then-fledgeling) comedian was. Hamlisch turned to Stewart and said, "Oooh, burn."

Hamlisch composed "Theme Song for Peaboy" for Late Night with David Letterman.

American evangelist Jerry Falwell refused to rule out the possibility of Hamlisch being the Antichrist in response to a direct query on the matter from comedian Al Franken.

Hamlisch guest starred in an episode of Caroline in the City as himself. In the episode a character named Richard stole Hamlisch's Grammy for "The Way We Were" mistakenly thinking that Hamlisch had stolen the tune from him when he was a student at a music camp.

In the 2008 movie Role Models, Christopher Mintz-Plasse states that people say he looks like a young Marvin Hamlisch, to which he replies, "Who the fuck is Marvin Hamlisch?!" Paul Rudd's character then says, "He wrote the music to The Sting," to which Seann William Scott says, "That's a good movie." According to director David Wain's DVD commentary, the joke was suggested by Rudd, and Wain doubted that the movie's audience would know who Hamlisch was. As it turns out, the joke received a major laugh at test screenings.

See also

• List of persons who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards

Further reading

• Hamlisch, Marvin (1992). The way I was. Scribner; 1st edition ISBN 0684193272
• Mandelbaum, Ken (1990). A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett. St Martins Press ISBN 0312042809
• Viagas, Robert (1990). On the Line - The Creation of A Chorus Line. Limelight Editions; 2nd edition ISBN 0879103361
• Kelly, Kevin (1990). One Singular Sensation: The Michael Bennett Story. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 038526125X.
• Stevens, Gary (2000). The Longest Line: Broadway's Most Singular Sensation: A Chorus Line. Applause Books ISBN 1557832218
• Flinn, Denny Martin (1989). What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of "A Chorus Line."' Bantam ISBN 0553345931

External links

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• PBS article