Marvin Hamlisch

Died yesterday at only 68 ... Only person besides Richard Rodgers to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony, and Pulitzer (the last two for A Chorus Line).

It's hard to overstate how inescapable hearing him was in 1973-78, though he then swiftly became a punchline for Gilda Radner's nerdy girl on SNL. Never had much use for the Broadway stuff, but my fave things in his early career were his score for Bananas and accompanist work for Groucho Marx at Carnegie Hall.

He sure did luck out that they were stil giving Oscars for "adapted scores" when he put all those Joplin rags in The Sting, though.

http://www.marvinhamlisch.com/

Wrote "Nobody Does It Better," right? LOVE that song.

Saw him conduct the student orchestra at the Cleveland Institute of Music last year and he was extremely entertaining and personable, even when some poor trumpet player absolutely muffed the first note of his solo on "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

yeah, he wrote "Nobody Does It Better" with his longtime gf Carole Bayer Sager. Kind of an awkward karaoke number cuz they had to squeeze "the spy who loved me" into the lyrics.

more songs should have "the spy who loved me" squeezed into their lyrics!

well, better than "misty watercolored memories"

correct!

RIP, one of the premier schmaltzmeisters of the 20th century. i mean that as a high compliment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzK9R4I-Yc8

I just heard a radio interview with him last month, seemed like an amiable fellow, and still very busy. RIP