Marvin Hamlisch
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| Marvin Hamlisch | |
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 Marvin Hamlisch, 2009
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Marvin Frederick Hamlisch |
| Born | June 2, 1944 (1944-06-02) (age 65) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Musical theatre, Film, Pops |
| Occupations | Composer, conductor |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Associated acts | Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Seattle Symphony Orchestra National Symphony Orchestra San Diego Symphony Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Colorado Symphony Orchestra |
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (born June 2, 1944) is an American composer. He is one of only two people to have been awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize (the other is Richard Rodgers). Hamlisch has also won a Golden Globe.
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Biography
Early life and career
Hamlisch was born in New York City to Viennese Jewish 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] 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 attended Queens College. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967.[2]
Marvin Hamlisch’s life in music is notable for its great versatility as well as substance.
As composer, Hamlisch has won virtually every major award that exists: three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony and three Golden Globe awards; his groundbreaking show, A CHORUS LINE, received the Pulitzer Prize.
Film and composer
Hamlisch is the composer of many motion picture scores, including his Oscar-winning score and song for The Way We Were and his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s music for The Sting, for which he received a third Oscar. His prolific output of scores for films include original compositions and/or musical adaptations for Sophie's Choice, Ordinary People, The Swimmer, Three Men And A Baby, Ice Castles, Take The Money And Run, Bananas, Save The Tiger and his latest effort The Informant!(Sept. 2009) starring Matt Damon, and directed by Steven Soderbergh.
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.
In 2003 Hamlisch appeared in a cameo role (portraying himself) in the film How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
Stage
He composed the score for the 1975 Broadway musical A Chorus Line, for which he won both a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize, and They're Playing Our Song, loosely based on his relationship with Carole Bayer Sager. His other stage work has been met with mixed reception.[2]
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.[3] 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 Drama Desk nomination, for Outstanding Music.[4]
Conductor
Mr. Hamlisch was Musical Director and arranger of Barbra Streisand’s 1994 concert tour of the U.S. and England as well as of the television special, “Barbra Streisand: The Concert” (for which he received two of his Emmys).
Currently, Marvin Hamlisch holds the position of Principal Pops Conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra,[5] , the National Symphony Orchestra[6] (the first person to hold this position), the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra,[7] the San Diego Symphony,[8] the Seattle Symphony,[9] and most recently, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, starting in 2009—10.[10]
Honors and awards
He is one of only ten people to win all four major US performing awards, Emmy Award, Grammy Award, the Oscar and Tony Award.[11] He and Richard Rodgers are the only two to have won all four plus a Pulitzer Prize.[12][13]
He has received ten Golden Globe Award nominations, winning twice for Best Original Song, with Life's What You Make It in 1972 and The Way We Were in 1974.[14]
He has received six Emmy Award nominations, winning four times, twice for music direction of Barbra Streisand specials, in 1995 and 2001.[15]
Hamlisch received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Soundtrack Awards, in Ghent, Belgium in 2009 Source: Ghent Film Festival Oct.18, 2009. The World Soundtrack Awards are held annually at the end of the Ghent Film Festival, which honors Belgian and international films, with a focus on film music
He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame[16] in 2007.
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.
Work
Symphony
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The Dallas Symphony Orchestra performed a rare Hamlisch classical symphonic suite titled Anatomy of Peace (Symphonic Suite in one Movement For Full Orchestra/Chorus/Child Vocal Soloist) on November 19, 1991. [17] It was also performed in Paris in 1994 to comemorate D-Day.[18] The work was recorded by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1992.[19]
"Anatomy of Peace" was a book by Emery Reves which expressed the world federalist sentiments shared by Albert Einstein and many others in the late 1940s, in the period immediately following World War II.
Hamlisch explains: Emery Reves’s call for one law for us all could be defined by a simple, clear, plaintive theme, and the orchestra would represent all the nations of the world and their different rules of law. The suite begins with the nations of the world in loud, cacophonous uproar. Suddenly, a solo flute introduces the One Law theme, beckoning to us all; one law bringing us all together. But each section of the orchestra (our world) initially resists the call, since old habits are hard to break. The brass and the woodwinds are first to display their dislike of this new idea. But the flute acts as a magnet and slowly its pull (its logic) is felt, first by the woodwinds. When the theme returns, it is not alone. The strings, a big part of our world, must now be convinced, and finally they are. Our theme is now given words, first introduced by a solo child, and then sung again by a children’s chorus. Slowly the irresistibility of the idea begins to weave a spell on the orchestra and the penultimate section of the piece is a contemplative one, as the world thinks about what the new world order would be. Finally, Reves’s dream is musically realized, as the entire orchestra accepts the One Law concept.[citation needed]
Theatre
- Seesaw (1973) [Dance Arrangements]
- A Chorus Line (Pulitzer Prize for Drama) (1975)
- They're Playing Our Song (1978)
- Jean Seberg (1983)
- Smile (1986)
- The Goodbye Girl (1993)
- Sweet Smell of Success: The Musical (2002)
- Imaginary Friends (2002)
Film
Academy Awards
- 1997 Nominee, Best Original Song - "I 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
- 1977 Nominee, Best Original Score - The Spy Who Loved Me
- 1977 Nominee, Best Original Song - "Nobody Does It Better" from The Spy Who Loved Me
- 1973 Winner, Best Original Dramatic Score - The Way We Were
- 1973 Winner, Best Original Song - "The Way We Were" from The Way We Were
- 1973 Winner, Best Original Song Score and/or Adaptation - The Sting
- 1972 Nominee, Best Original Song - "Life Is What You Make It" from Kotch
Trivia
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (February 2008) |
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 composed "Theme Song for Peaboy" for Late Night with David Letterman.
American evangelist Jerry Falwell refused to rule out the possibility of Hamlisch being the Antichrist in response to a direct query on the matter from comedian Al Franken.[20]
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. In a Simpsons comic book (Big Bratty Book of Bart Simpson) all the old people mistake Milhouse for Marvin Hamlisch and start grabbing him.
See also
References
- ^ "Marvin Hamlisch Biography". filmreference. 2008. http://www.filmreference.com/film/14/Marvin-Hamlisch.html. Retrieved 2008-11-25.
- ^ a b c d Marvin Hamlisch biographytcm.com, accessed April 2, 2009
- ^ Hamlisch biographyPBS< Broadway:The American Musical, retrieved December 18, 2009
- ^ The Goodbye Girl listingInternet Broadway Database, retrieved December 18, 2009
- ^ BiographyPittsburgh Symphony, accessed April 2, 2009
- ^ ListingNational Symphony Orchestra
- ^ ListingMilwaukee Symphony Orchestra
- ^ ListingSan Diego Symphony
- ^ ListingSeattle Symphony
- ^ Kalan, Susan.Tops for new pops conductor Marvin Hamlisch for Colorado Symphony",lehighvalleylive, September 12, 2008
- ^ List of people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award
- ^ http://wiki.xiaoyaozi.com/en//List_of_persons_who_have_won_Academy,_Emmy,_Grammy,_and_Tony_Awards
- ^ "Tony Legacy, They're the Top"tonyawards.com, accessed February 5, 2010
- ^ Marvin Hamlisch Golden Globes Awards, accessed 2009-08-07
- ^ Hamlisch arad listingimdb.com, accessed April 2, 2009
- ^ (www.limusichalloffame.org)
- ^ Brozan, Nadine. "Chronicle",The New York Times, November 19, 1991
- ^ "Hamlisch Symphony",Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 30, 1994, p. 1994
- ^ "Dallas Symphony Orchestra Discography"dallassymphony.com, p. 4, accessed February 4, 2010
- ^ Al Franken. Interview with Steven Waldman. Why Would The Anti-Christ Write Chorus Line? (transcript). Beliefnet. 2003. Retrieved on 2008-12-21.
Further reading
- Hamlisch, Marvin (1992). The way I was. Scribner; 1st edition ISBN 0684193272
- Mandelbaum, Ken (1990). A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett. St Martins Press ISBN 0312042809
- Viagas, Robert (1990). On the Line - The Creation of A Chorus Line. Limelight Editions; 2nd edition ISBN 0879103361
- Kelly, Kevin (1990). One Singular Sensation: The Michael Bennett Story. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 038526125X.
- Stevens, Gary (2000). The Longest Line: Broadway's Most Singular Sensation: A Chorus Line. Applause Books ISBN 1557832218
- Flinn, Denny Martin (1989). What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of "A Chorus Line."' Bantam ISBN 0553345931
External links
- Marvin Hamlisch at the Internet Broadway Database
- Marvin Hamlisch at the Internet Movie Database
- Marvin Hamlisch at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- PBS article
| Awards and achievements | ||
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| Preceded by Charlie Smalls for The Wiz |
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music 1975-1976 for A Chorus Line |
Succeeded by – |
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