Marvin Hamlisch

Marvin Hamlisch (born June 2, 1944) is a successful composer of film scores.

Biography

Hamlisch was born in New York City to Viennese Jewish parents. His was a musical family with his father being an accordionist and bandleader. Marvin Hamlisch was something of 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 became the youngest person ever accepted to the Juilliard School. However anxiety issues kept him from pursuing a career as a concert pianist leading him to instead focus on composition, specifically for film and theater.

Although Liza Minnelli's debut album included a song he did in his teens, his first hit did not come until he was 21 years old. This song was done by Lesley Gore, in the form of Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows. (The song, in Lesley Gore's version, 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 did music for some of Woody Allen's early films like Take the Money and Run.

The 1970s would be his peak period as a composer. This is most true of the first half of the decade. The best known work he did in this period might be adaptations of Scott Joplin's ragtime music for the motion picture The Sting, including its theme song, "The Entertainer". In award terms he had his greatest success with The Way We Were in 1974. For that he won two of his three 1974 Academy Awards. He also won 4 Grammy Awards in 1974, two of them for "The Way We Were." He continued having hits in the late 1970s after this. He co-wrote "Nobody Does It Better" with his then-wife Carole Bayer Sager. It went on to be nominated for an Oscar in 1977. He also had Broadway success with A Chorus Line and a score for a Neil Simon play.

Although productive the 1980s were a less successful period for him. On balance the decade was arguably his least successful period. At the very beginning of the decade his marriage to Carole Bayer Sager ended, but as musical collaborators they later continued to do some work together. In 1983 the musical Jean failed in the United Kingdom and never appeared in the US. In 1986 Smile was a mixed success, but did gain some note for the song Disneyland. He won no awards in music, theater, or film during the 1980s. Still this should not be exaggerated. 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 a song in the film version of A Chorus Line. He married his current wife in 1989. The 1980s had just been unsuccessful for him in comparison to the previous decade.

The 1990s saw something of an improvement if not a return to the fame he once had in the 1970s. He received his first Emmy nomination for his musical work for the television show Television, Best Series, Musical/Comedy. Later he won his first Emmy for a Barbra Streisand special. He also received a Tony nomination for music in a revival of The Goodbye Girl.

Currently, he is the conductor for the Pops series for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and is the Principal Pops Conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra (the first person to hold this position).

He is one of only a few people to win all four major US performing awards, Emmy Award, Grammy Award, the Oscar and Tony Award.

Broadway

Imaginary Friends (2002)
Sweet Smell of Success (2002)
The Goodbye Girl (1993)
Smile (1986)
Jean (1983)
They're Playing Our Song (1978)
A Chorus Line (Pulitzer Prize) (1975)
Seesaw (1973)
Minnie's Boys (1970)

Film

Films scored

The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)
Open Season (1996)
Seasons of the Heart (1994)
Frankie and Johnny (1991)
Missing Pieces (1991)
Switched at Birth (1991)
Stories of Seduction (1990)
The Experts (1989)
Shirley Valentine (1989)
The January Man (1989)
David (1988)
Little Nikita (1988)
A Triple Play (1988)
The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987)
Three Men and a Baby (1987)
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (1987)
When the Time Comes (1987)
A Chorus Line (1985)
DARYL (1985)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1984)
Romantic Comedy (1983)
I Ought To Be In Pictures (1982)
Sophie's Choice (1982)
Gilda Live (1980)
Ordinary People (1980)
Seems Like Old Times (1980)
Chapter Two (1979)
Starting Over (1979)
Ice Castles (1978)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1978)
Same Time, Next Year (1978)
The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
The Entertainer (1976) -- what is this doing here? Isn't this a song not a film?
Funny Lady (1975)
The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975)
The Sting (1974)
The Way We Were (1974)
Save the Tiger (1973)
The World's Greatest Athlete (1973)
Fat City (1972)
The War Between Men and Women (1972)
Bananas (1971)
Kotch (1971)
Something Big (1971)
Flap (1970)
Move (1970)
The April Fools (1969)
Take the Money and Run (1969)
Ski Patrol (1968)
The Swimmer (1968)

Academy Awards

1997 Nominee, Best Original Song - "I've 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
1974 Winner, Best Original Dramatic Score - The Way We Were
1974 Winner, Best Original Song - "The Way We Were" from The Way We Were
1974 Winner, Best Original Song Score and/or Adaptation - The Sting
1972 Nominee, Best Original Song - "Life Is What You Make It" from Kotch

Film trivia

In 1973, he became the first person to win three Academy Awards in the same evening.

In 1977, he wrote the score for the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, as John Barry was unable to work in the United Kingdom due to tax reasons. To date, this is the only Bond film incorporating the "disco" score.

External links