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Marvin Hamlisch

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Marvin Hamlisch

Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (born June 2, 1944) is an American composer. He is one of only two people to have been awarded Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and a Tony (known as an EGOT) plus a Pulitzer Prize (the other is Richard Rodgers). Hamlisch has also won two Golden Globes.

Biography

Early life and career

Hamlisch was born in New York City to Viennese Jewish parents: Lilly Schachter and Max Hamlisch.[1] 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.[2] 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.[2] His favorite musicals growing up were My Fair Lady, Gypsy, West Side Story, and Bye Bye Birdie.[3]

Hamlisch attended Queens College. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967.[2]

Film and composer

Hamlisch is the composer of many motion picture scores, including his Oscar-winning score and song for The Way We Were and his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s music for The Sting, for which he received a third Oscar. His prolific output of scores for films include original compositions and/or musical adaptations for Sophie's Choice, Ordinary People, The Swimmer, Three Men And A Baby, Ice Castles, Take The Money And Run, Bananas, Save The Tiger and his latest effort The Informant! (2009) starring Matt Damon, and directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Although Liza Minnelli's debut album included a song he wrote 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. 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 better 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.[2]

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.[4] 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.[5]

Conductor

Hamlisch was Musical Director and arranger of Barbra Streisand’s 1994 concert tour of the U.S. and England as well as of the television special, "Barbra Streisand: The Concert" (for which he received two of his Emmys).

Currently, Marvin Hamlisch holds the position of Principal Pops Conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra,[6] the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra,[7] the San Diego Symphony,[8] the Seattle Symphony,[9] the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.[10] and The Pasadena Symphony and Pops.

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.[11] He and Richard Rodgers are the only two to have won all four plus a Pulitzer Prize.[12][13]

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.[14]

He has received six Emmy Award nominations, winning four times, twice for music direction of Barbra Streisand specials, in 1995 and 2001.[15]

Hamlisch received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Soundtrack Awards, in Ghent, Belgium in 2009 Source: Ghent Film Festival Oct.18, 2009. The World Soundtrack Awards are held annually at the end of the Ghent Film Festival, which honors Belgian and international films, with a focus on film music

He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame[16] 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.

Personal life

Hamlisch married Terre Blair, a Columbus, Ohio native and news anchor from the ABC affiliate WTVN - Channel 6 in in that city, in May 1989.[17][18][19]

He had a prior relationship with Carole Bayer Sager, which was the inspiration for the musical They're Playing Our Song.[20]

Work

Symphony

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.[21] It was also performed in Paris in 1994 to commemorate D-Day.[22] The work was recorded by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1992.[23]

"Anatomy of Peace" was a book by Emery Reves which expressed the world federalist sentiments shared by Albert Einstein and many others in the late 1940s, in the period immediately following World War II.

Hamlisch explains: Emery Reves’s call for one law for us all could be defined by a simple, clear, plaintive theme, and the orchestra would represent all the nations of the world and their different rules of law. The suite begins with the nations of the world in loud, cacophonous uproar. Suddenly, a solo flute introduces the One Law theme, beckoning to us all; one law bringing us all together. But each section of the orchestra (our world) initially resists the call, since old habits are hard to break. The brass and the woodwinds are first to display their dislike of this new idea. But the flute acts as a magnet and slowly its pull (its logic) is felt, first by the woodwinds. When the theme returns, it is not alone. The strings, a big part of our world, must now be convinced, and finally they are. Our theme is now given words, first introduced by a solo child, and then sung again by a children’s chorus. Slowly the irresistibility of the idea begins to weave a spell on the orchestra and the penultimate section of the piece is a contemplative one, as the world thinks about what the new world order would be. Finally, Reves’s dream is musically realized, as the entire orchestra accepts the One Law concept.[24]

Theatre

Film

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

Academy Awards

See also

References

  1. ^ "Marvin Hamlisch Biography". filmreference. 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-25.
  2. ^ a b c d Marvin Hamlisch biography tcm.com, accessed April 2, 2009
  3. ^ http://broadwayworld.com/article/InDepth_InterView_Marvin_Hamlisch_20100722
  4. ^ Hamlisch biography PBS< Broadway:The American Musical, retrieved December 18, 2009
  5. ^ The Goodbye Girl listing Internet Broadway Database, retrieved December 18, 2009
  6. ^ Biography Pittsburgh Symphony, accessed April 2, 2009
  7. ^ Listing Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
  8. ^ Listing San Diego Symphony
  9. ^ Listing Seattle Symphony
  10. ^ Dallas Symphony Orchestra website Conductors"
  11. ^ List of people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award
  12. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_persons_who_have_won_Academy,_Emmy,_Grammy,_and_Tony_Awards
  13. ^ "Tony Legacy, They're the Top" tonyawards.com, accessed February 5, 2010
  14. ^ Marvin Hamlisch Golden Globes Awards, accessed 2009-08-07
  15. ^ Hamlisch arad listing imdb.com, accessed April 2, 2009
  16. ^ (www.limusichalloffame.org)
  17. ^ (no author)."Marvin Hamlisch to Marry Ms. Blair, Producer, in May"The New York Times, March 19, 1989
  18. ^ "People Are Talking About"Jet (books.google.com), June 19, 1989
  19. ^ Laufenberg, Norbert B."Hamlisch, Marvin" p. 285 Entertainment Celebrities, Trafford Publishing, 2005 (books.google.com)
  20. ^ Klein, Alvin."A New Approach for Marvin Hamlisch"The New York Times, August 22, 1993
  21. ^ Brozan, Nadine. "Chronicle",The New York Times, November 19, 1991
  22. ^ "Hamlisch Symphony",Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 30, 1994, p. 1994
  23. ^ "Dallas Symphony Orchestra Discography" dallassymphony.com, p. 4, accessed February 4, 2010
  24. ^ Book: The Way I Was

Further reading

  • Hamlisch, Marvin (1992). The way I was. Scribner; 1st edition ISBN 0-684-19327-2
  • Mandelbaum, Ken (1990). A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett. St Martins Press ISBN 0-312-04280-9
  • Viagas, Robert (1990). On the Line - The Creation of A Chorus Line. Limelight Editions; 2nd edition ISBN 0-87910-336-1
  • Kelly, Kevin (1990). One Singular Sensation: The Michael Bennett Story. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-26125-X.
  • Stevens, Gary (2000). The Longest Line: Broadway's Most Singular Sensation: A Chorus Line. Applause Books ISBN 1-55783-221-8
  • Flinn, Denny Martin (1989). What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of "A Chorus Line."' Bantam ISBN 0-553-34593-1
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music
1975-1976
for A Chorus Line 		Succeeded by
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