Marvin Hamlisch

Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (born June 2, 1944 in New York City, New York; † August 6, 2012 in Los Angeles, California) was an American composer. He is considered one of the most successful musical and film composers of the 20th century. He is among the few artists to have won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards.

Live

Hamlisch, who came from a Jewish family of Viennese origin, learned to play the piano at an early age and was considered a child prodigy. As a teenager he gave concerts at Town Hall. Then he studied at the Juilliard School of Music. Already in this time he shifted to composing. In 1965 he wrote his first hit with Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows for Lesley Gore, which he repeated in 1967, also for Gore, with California Nights. After hearing him play piano at a party, Sam Spiegel commissioned him to write his first film composition (for The Swimmer, 1966). He then moved to Los Angeles to be closer to the studios. His adaptations of Scott Joplin's ragtime compositions, which he wrote for the 1973 film The Sting, achieved great fame.

He wrote the music for many feature films and television series and for the successful Broadway musicals A Chorus Line and They're Playing Our Song. In 1977 Hamlisch also wrote the music for the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). He was also the conductor and arranger of Barbra Streisand's concerts from 1993, for whom he also wrote the 1973 number-one hit and million-seller The Way We Were. The cover version of Gladys Knight & the Pips was also a worldwide success.

Hamlisch was honored with numerous awards. Outstanding in this regard was the year 1974, when he was awarded a total of Oscars in three different categories. It followed in the further years seven Oscar nominations. Three times he could win the Emmy, twice a Golden Globe Award. Most often he received the ASCAP Award with four times.

Hamlisch died on August 6, 2012 after a short illness at the age of 68.

Works

Filmography

• 1968: The Swimmer - Director: Frank Perry
• 1969: A Frog in Manhattan (The April Fools) - Director: Stuart Rosenberg
• 1969: Hop, Hop (Move) - Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
• 1969: Woody, the Unlucky Raven (Take the Money and Run) - Director: Woody Allen
• 1970: The Indian (Flap) - Director: Carol Reed
• 1971: Bananas - Director: Woody Allen
• 1971: El Capitano (Something Big) - Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen
• 1971: Grandpa Can't Leave It (Kotch) - Director: Jack Lemmon
• 1972: Big Boy - Der aus dem Dschungel kam (The world's greatest athlete) - Director: Robert Scheere
• 1972: Fat City - Director: John Huston
• 1972: War between Men and Women - Director: Melville Shavelson
• 1973: Save the Tiger - Director: John G. Avildsen
• 1973: Cherie Bitter (The way we were) - Director: Sydney Pollack
• 1973: The Sting - Director: George Roy Hill
• 1974: The Prisoner of Second Avenue - Director: Melvin Frank
• 1976: The Entertainer - Director: Donald Wyre
• 1977: The Absent-Minded Waiter - Director: Carl Gottlieb Short Film
• 1977: The Spy Who Loved Me - Director: Lewis Gilbert
• 1978: Ice Castles - Director: Donald Wyre
• 1978: Same Time, Next Year - Director: Robert Mulligan
• 1979: Starting Over - Director: Alan J. Pakula
• 1979: Ordinary people - Director: Robert Redford
• 1980: The Second Chapter (Chapter Two) - Director: Robert Moore
• 1980: Seems like old times - Director: Jay Sandrich
• 1981: The Fanatic (The Fan) - Director: Edward Bianchi
• 1981: Dance in the Clouds (Pennies from heaven) - Director: Herbert Ross
• 1982: Actually I wanted to be in pictures (I ought to be in pictures) - Director: Herbert Ross
• 1982: Sophie's choice - Director: Alan J. Pakula
• 1983: Jason the Bottle (Romantic comedy) - Director: Arthur Hiller
• 1984: A Streetcar Named Desire - Director: John Erman
• 1985: A Chorus Line - Director: Richard Attenborough
• 1985: D.A.R.Y.L. - The Extraordinary (D.A.R.Y.L.) - Director: Simon Wincer
• 1987: The experts (The experts) - Director: Dave Thomas
• 1987: Little Nikita - Director: Richard Benjamin
• 1987: Three men and a baby - Director: Leonard Nimoy
• 1987: Return of the six million dollar man and the bionic woman - Director: Ray Austin
• 1987: Society (The two Mrs. Grenvilles) - Director: John Erman
• 1987: Death Promise (When the time comes) - Director: John Erman
• 1988: In the Sign of the Virgin (The January man) - Director: Pat O'Connor
• 1990: Seductive Stories (Women & men: Stories of seduction) - Director: Frederic Raphael, Ken Russell, Tony Richardson
• 1991: Babyswitch - Child of Strange Parents I + II (Switched at birth) - Director: Waris Hussein
• 1991: Frankie & Johnny (Frankie and Johnny) - Director: Gary Marshall
• 1992: On the sunny side of life (Missing pieces) - Director: Leonard B. Stern
• 1995: Love has two faces (The mirror has two faces) - Director: Barbra Streisand
• 1996: The Nanny (Episode 3.18 False Friends)
• 2009: The Informant! (The Informant!) - Director: Steven Soderbergh
• 2012: Liberace - Too Much of a Good Thing is Wonderful (Behind the Candelabra) - Director: Steven Soderbergh

Stage/Musicals

• 1975: A Chorus Line
• 1979: They're Playing our Song
• 1986: Smile
• 1993: The Goodbye Girl
• 2002: Sweet Smell of Success