Marvin Hamlisch was born 77 years ago today.
A composer and conductor, Hamlisch was one of only eleven EGOTs — those who have been awarded an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. He was also one of only two people to have won those four prizes and a Pulitzer Prize (the other being Richard Rodgers).
Born in Manhattan to Viennese-born Jewish parents, Hamlisch’s father was an accordionist and bandleader. His son was a child prodigy. By age five, he began mimicking the piano music he heard on the radio.
In 1951, a few months before he turned seven, Hamlisch was accepted into what is now the Juilliard School Pre-College Division. 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. His favorite musicals growing up were My Fair Lady, Gypsy, West Side Story and Bye Bye Birdie. Hamlisch attended Queens College, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967.
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," co-written with Howard Liebling, was recorded by Lesley Gore and reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1965.
His first film score was for The Swimmer, after the film's producer, Sam Spiegel, hired Hamlisch based on a piano performance Hamlisch did at one of his parties. Later, he wrote music for several early Woody Allen films such as Take the Money and Run and Bananas.
In addition, Hamlisch co-wrote the song "California Nights" (also with Liebling), which was recorded by Lesley Gore for her 1967 hit album of the same name.
The Bob Crewe-produced single peaked at #16 on the Hot 100 in March, 1967, two months after Gore had performed the song on the Batman TV series. Gore guest-starred as an accomplice to Julie Newmar's, Catwoman.
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."
“The Entertainer” hit #1 on Billboards Adult Contemporary chart and #3 on the Hot 100, selling nearly two 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 one Academy Award for the adaptation score for The Sting.
In 1975, he wrote what, for the first 12 years, would be the original theme music for Good Morning America, which was built around four notes.
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. His last projects included The Informant! (2009), starring Matt Damon and directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Prior to his death, he completed the scores for the musical, The Nutty Professor, and the HBO movie, Behind the Candelabra (2013), also directed by Soderbergh and starring Damon and Michael Douglas as Liberace.
Marvin Hamlisch died on August 6, 2012, in Los Angeles at age 68 following a short illness. His death was primarily due to respiratory arrest caused by a combination of anoxic brain encephalopathy and hypertension.
The Associated Press described him as having written "some of the best-loved and most enduring songs and scores in movie history."