Marvin Hamlisch composed scores for the Broadway show A Chorus Line and the films The Sting and The Way We Were, among his many other musical achievements. Hamlisch entered the Juilliard School of Music at the precocious age of seven, and by his 21st birthday he had written the pop hit "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" for Lesley Gore. In the late 1960s he went Hollywood, establishing himself with scores for the Woody Allen hits Take the Money and Run (1969) and Bananas (1971). The 1970s became his most spectacular decade. In 1973 he won two Oscars for his work on the Robert Redford-Barbra Streisand film The Way We Were (best dramatic score and best song) and a third for the Redford-Paul Newman film The Sting (best song score or adaptation). In 1975 he wrote the score to A Chorus Line, the legendary smash musical which won the Pulitzer Prize and ran on Broadway for 15 years and over 6,000 shows. Witty and cheerful, Hamlisch also became a regular presence on the TV talk circuit. In later years has served as a conductor for various pops orchestras, including a long-running regular gig with the Pittsburgh Symphony, and has continued to score films and television shows. Hamlisch has won Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards. His 1992 biography was titled The Way I Was.
With Carol Bayer Sager, Hamlisch co-wrote "Nobody Does it Better," the theme to the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. The tune was a hit for singer Carly Simon.
Hamlisch, Marvin (b. 1944), composer. A New Yorker who won a scholarship to Juilliard when he was only seven and who studied music at Queens College, he became a well‐known composer of screen background music before writing the scores for two exceptionally long‐run Broadway musicals: A Chorus Line (1975) and They're Playing Our Song (1979). Hamlisch's other scores were often commendable but, for various reasons, failed to run: Smile (1986), The Goodbye Girl (1993), and Sweet Smell of Success (2002). Autobiography: The Way I Was, 1992.
Representative Albums: "The Swimmer," "The Sting," "The Spy Who Loved Me"
Representative Songs: "The Entertainer," "Solace," "Pineapple Rag"
Biography
Since he first emerged in the mid-'70s, Marvin Hamlisch has been one of the top composers in film, theater, and popular music. As holder of numerous gold record awards for his soundtrack and cast recordings, and the composer of some of the most well-known songs ever cut by Barbra Streisand and Lesley Gore, among many others, he is among the few "stars" in the world of popular music, composition, and songwriting to achieve major public recognition since the emergence of rock music in the '60s.
Born in New York in 1944, Marvin Hamlisch grew up on Manhattan's Upper West Side. His father was an accordionist and bandleader specializing in dance music and Hamlisch showed a fascination with music at an early age. At age 5, Hamlisch was mimicking the music he heard on the radio on the piano, and he began lessons a year later. At age 7, he auditioned for the Juilliard School of Music by transcribing the then-current hit "Goodnight Irene" into different keys spontaneously, on demand from the panel judging him. He was accepted, becoming the youngest student in Juilliard's history; he later graduated from Queens College in New York.
In his teens, Hamlisch's performing talent seemed to beckon a career in the concert hall, but he proved psychologically unsuited to being a concert pianist, owing to terrible anxiety that proved difficult to overcome as a boy. He turned instead to composition, an activity that he had always pursued privately. While still at Juilliard, he worked as a music counselor at an upstate camp, where some of his songs were performed; one of the songs he originally wrote for a show at the camp, "Travelin' Man," was recorded by Liza Minnelli on her debut album. However, Hamlisch's first hit came when he was 21 years old, from Lesley Gore, in the form of "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows," which rode the Billboard charts for 11 weeks in 1965, peaking at number 13. (The song, in Lesley Gore's version, later figured prominently in a Simpsons episode parodying the film Thelma & Louise when the police chief puts some chase music on in his cruiser).
Minnelli helped Hamlisch land a spot as the arranger on the Broadway productions of Funny Girl and Fade In -- Fade Out, and it was in that capacity that he first made his way in the theater world. On Henry, Sweet Henry and later on Golden Rainbow, he arranged the dance music, while he also served as the rehearsal pianist for The Bell Telephone Hour on television.
Hamlisch broke into the movie business as a result of a party he attended where he overheard producer Sam Speigel saying that he needed music for a film adaptation of John Cheever's story The Swimmer. Hamlisch went to work on his own and presented the producer with a main theme and was engaged to do the score for the move. He subsequently entered the orbit of Woody Allen during the latter's early days in cinema, writing the music for Allen's debut film, Take the Money and Run (1969), and his second movie, Bananas (1971). Hamlisch's other early film music efforts involved such movies as The April Fools, Save the Tiger, Move, Kotch, and Fat City, films that were more interesting to the critics than to the public, in terms of their impact -- his song from Kotch, "Life Is What You Make It," was also nominated for an Academy Award in 1971. He would have to wait a few years to become known by the public for his film music, but Hamlisch remained active in theater, writing the incidental music and dance arrangements for the musical comedy Minnie's Boys, a feature based on the early careers of the Marx Brothers. His connection with the Marxes became much closer when Hamlisch was chosen by Groucho Marx to be his pianist and straight man (sort of the successor to George Fenneman) in his stage act, which he brought to night clubs and college campuses.
The mid-'70s would prove to be Hamlisch's heyday as a composer and a major force in popular culture. In 1973, Hamlisch was engaged to score The Way We Were, a high-profile romantic drama starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. Streisand initially balked at using Hamlisch's title song (authored with lyricists Marilyn and Alan Bergman); it became one of the singer's biggest chart hits, her first million-selling single, and one of her most recognizable songs. Not only did the song win the Oscar, but so did Hamlisch's entire score.
Having generated one of the biggest movie-related pop hits of the first half of the decade, Hamlisch pulled off an even more prodigious feat the next year with his score for The Sting. Built on the music of Scott Joplin, the music from The Sting helped spearhead a whole revival of interest in Joplin's work, which resulted not only in a hit album for Hamlisch (The Entertainer) but huge sales for rival recordings of Joplin's music by figures such as Joshua Rifkin, among others. Hamlisch also won his second Oscar for The Sting.
Hamlisch also ventured into composing music for television in 1975 with his theme music for two series that illustrated the range of the medium's vision at the time: Beacon Hill, a highly derivative series inspired by the success of the British class system drama Upstairs, Downstairs, and The Hot L Baltimore, an envelope-ripping sitcom (adapted from a play) about life at a seedy hotel populated by characters who, at the time, would have come from the wrong sides of most viewers' tracks. Neither lasted, but Hamlisch made a more significant contribution to the small screen in 1976 when he wrote the music for the NBC adaptation of John Osborne's The Entertainer, starring Jack Lemmon.
That same year, Hamlisch scored perhaps the biggest hit of his career with A Chorus Line, his very first attempt at writing a Broadway musical, co-authored with lyricist Edward Kleban. Opening on Broadway in May of 1975, it became the most successful musical of the decade, winning multiple awards in the bargain and running well into the '90s. One of the score's songs, "What I Did for Love," has been recorded hundreds of times by artists including Johnny Mathis, Kenny Rogers, Jim Nabors, and the Three Degrees. Hamlisch chose that point in his career to try and revive his performing career with a cabaret act that played well throughout the country and as a pianist in appearances with some of the country's major orchestras.
In between his performing career and his writing for the stage and screen, Hamlisch managed to work in appearances on albums by such diverse figures as Aretha Franklin, the Carpenters, and Peter Allen, among many others. Hamlisch scored another hit as a composer, albeit not of the dimensions of A Chorus Line, with They're Playing Our Song. Co-written with his wife, Carole Bayer Sager, it was a semi-autobiographical musical about a married songwriting team, which yielded a hit cast album as well. The couple also won an Oscar nomination for the song "Nobody Does It Better," written for the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and a Top Five hit single for vocalist Carly Simon. The early '80s saw Hamlisch as busy as ever, writing the music to the Neil Simon comedies, Chapter Two, Seems Like Old Times, and I Ought to Be in Pictures, and the score for the dramatic period musical film Pennies From Heaven, as well as playing on his wife's albums. His music for the films Sophie's Choice, Ice Castles ("Through the Eyes of Love"), Same Time Next Year ("The Last Time I Felt Like This"), and Shirley Valentine ("The Girl Who Used to Be Me") was also nominated for Academy Awards. Hamlisch has been somewhat less-visible as a composer in terms of new work since the early '80s, but has been a producer and arranger for recordings by John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra, Liza Minnelli, and Barbra Streisand in the '90s. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
Career Highlights: The Sting, Ordinary People, Starting Over
First Major Screen Credit: The Swimmer (1968)
Biography
During his first wave of national fame in the mid '70s, American composer/arranger Marvin Hamlisch was a much sought-after talkshow guest, due not only to his quick wit but to the fact that he looked the part of the nice Jewish boy who'd been Julliard's youngest-ever student. The son of a prominent Viennese musician, Hamlisch was working on Broadway even while attending college, as Barbra Streisand's rehearsal pianist for Funny Girl. After some minor theatrical composing, Hamlisch met producer Sam Spiegel, which led to Hamlisch's first film scoring assignment, the teeny-bopper musicale Ski Party. Working quickly and inexpensively, Hamlisch created a demand for himself in the world of medium-budget "personal" film productions like Frank and Eleanor Perry's The Swimmer (1968) and Woody Allen's Bananas. In 1972, he was the accompanist/arranger of Groucho Marx' S.R.O. Carnegie Hall appearance, which led to even more valuable showbiz contacts. When Hamlisch finally hit it big in 1974, he hit it BIG -- winning three Academy Awards in a single evening, one for The Sting (1973) and two for The Way We Were (1973). America literally fell in love with this grinning, bespectacled, slightly dishevelled young man who seemed so comfortable with, yet so shy about, his limitless talent. From the night of that Oscar ceremony onward, producers fell over themselves entreating Hamlisch to add prestige to their projects; frequently, as in the case of the 1975 TV bomb Beacon Hill, Hamlisch's music was the only recommendation. Marvin Hamlisch has remained active in all branches of show business for the last two decades; the quality of the projects may have varied wildly at times, but Hamlisch can always take comfort in the fact that his Tony-winning music and lyrics for A Chorus Line were composed for the longest-running musical in Broadway history. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Hamlisch was born in New York City to VienneseJewish 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] However, anxiety issues kept him from pursuing a career as a concert pianist, leading instead to composition, specifically for film and theatre. 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]
Hamlisch later attended night classes at Queens College. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967.[2] In 2007, he received the Q Award, presented to Queens College alumni who have served as role models for the college.
Film and composer
Although Liza Minnelli's debut album included a song written 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. (The song 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 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 best 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.
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.[citation needed] 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 Tony Award nomination.[citation needed]
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.
In 1973, he became the second person to win three Academy Awards in the same evening after Billy Wilder in 1960.
In 1996, in his HBO stand-up special, comedian Jon Stewart mentioned Hamlisch during a bit about an appearance on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. Stewart claims that he and Hamlisch were sitting backstage during the beginning of the show, when Kathie Lee intimated that no one in the audience knew who the (then-fledgeling) comedian was. Hamlisch turned to Stewart and said, "Oooh, burn."
Hamlisch guest starred in an episode of Caroline in the City as himself. In the episode a character named Richard stole Hamlisch's Grammy for "The Way We Were" mistakenly thinking that Hamlisch had stolen the tune from him when he was a student at a music camp.
In the 2008 movie Role Models, Christopher Mintz-Plasse states that people say he looks like a young Marvin Hamlisch, to which he replies, "Who the fuck is Marvin Hamlisch?!" Paul Rudd's character then says, "He wrote the music to The Sting," to which Seann William Scott says, "That's a good movie." According to director David Wain's DVD commentary, the joke was suggested by Rudd, and Wain doubted that the movie's audience would know who Hamlisch was. As it turns out, the joke received a major laugh at test screenings.
