Marvin Hamlisch, 1944–2012
The composer who rewrote Hollywood’s songbook
Marvin Hamlisch was a master of popular song. In a career that spanned film, television, and theater, the classically trained composer won just about every award available. He received the first of his two Golden Globes in 1972, and went on to collect three Academy Awards, four Emmys, four Grammys, a Tony Award, and a Pulitzer Prize. Yet despite all that acclaim, Hamlisch remained highly sensitive to harsh critical judgment. “These songs are my babies,” he said in July. “It’s like having a baby in a hospital, taking a Polaroid, and going up to someone and saying, ‘What do you think?’ And he goes, ‘I give you a 3.’ That’s what criticism is like.”
Born in New York City to Austrian Jewish immigrants, Hamlisch showed prodigious musical talent from an early age. He entered the Juilliard School of Music for piano when he was 7 years old, “stunning the admissions committee with his renditions of ‘Goodnight Irene’ in any key they desired,” said the Associated Press. Hamlisch soon realized, however, that he wasn’t cut out to be a concert pianist, “not least because he felt sick to his stomach before every performance,” said Bloomberg.com.
In his teens, he switched from piano recitals to songwriting, and in 1963 was hired as a vocal arranger and rehearsal pianist for the Broadway production of Funny Girl, starring Barbra Streisand. Spotted playing piano at a private Hollywood party, he was engaged to score the 1968 Burt Lancaster movie The Swimmer. He went on to write scores for some 40 more films, winning Oscars for work on Streisand’s 1973 hit The Way We Were and the Paul Newman classic The Sting, for which he adapted the music of Scott Joplin and sparked a ragtime revival. Hamlisch’s roll continued with A Chorus Line, the Broadway smash that ran for 6,137 performances from 1975 to 1990.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
At the time of his death, Hamlisch was working on a new musical, Gotta Dance, and was scheduled to score a new film on pianist Liberace. “Imagination, energy, and passion,” said NPR.com, “Hamlisch seemed to always have an endless supply.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'Making a police state out of the liberal university'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
8 looming climate tipping points that imperil our planet
The Explainer New reports detail the thresholds we may be close to crossing
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Try 6 free issues of The Week Junior
Spark your child's curiosity with The Week Junior - the award-winning current affairs magazine for 8-14s.
By The Week Published
-
Benjamin Zephaniah: trailblazing writer who 'took poetry everywhere'
Why Everyone's Talking About Remembering the 'radical' wordsmith's 'wit and sense of mischief'
By The Week UK Published
-
Shane MacGowan: the unruly former punk with a literary soul
Why Everyone's Talking About The Pogues frontman died aged 65
By The Week UK Published
-
'Euphoria' star Angus Cloud dies at 25
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Legendary jazz and pop singer Tony Bennett dies at 96
Speed Read
By Devika Rao Published
-
Martin Amis: literary wunderkind who ‘blazed like a rocket’
feature Famed author, essayist and screenwriter died this week aged 73
By The Week Staff Published
-
Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian folk legend, is dead at 84
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Barry Humphries obituary: cerebral satirist who created Dame Edna Everage
feature Actor and comedian was best known as the monstrous Melbourne housewife and Sir Les Patterson
By The Week Staff Published
-
Mary Quant obituary: pioneering designer who created the 1960s look
feature One of the most influential fashion designers of the 20th century remembered as the mother of the miniskirt
By The Week Staff Published