Composer and conductor Marvin Hamlisch, best known for the torch song "The Way We Were," died Monday. He was 68 years old.
Hamlisch collapsed after a brief illness, his family announced.
In a career that spanned over four decades, Hamlisch won virtually every major award: three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony, and three Golden Globes.
Hamlisch composed more than forty motion picture scores, including his Oscar-winning score and song for “The Way We Were,” and his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s ragtime music for “The Sting,” for which he received a third Oscar.
Hamlisch's musical scores, though intricately conceived, never drew attention to themselves. They served to compliment the on-screen action, not overwhelm it -- enhancing each gesture, each glance, each moment of drama. That subtle approach allowed him to be something of a musical chameleon, easily gliding from searing dramas to off-beat comedies and making him a close collaborator to a diverse group of directors such as Woody Allen, Steven Soderbergh and Alan J. Pakula.
Perhaps his deepest artistic collaboration remained with Barbra Streisand, for whom he not only penned one of her signature love anthems in "The Way We Were," but also wrote the score for her 1996 film "The Mirror has Two Faces." He would also serve as musical director and and arranger of Streisand’s 1994 concert tour, and the television special, "Barbra Streisand: The Concert", for which he won two Emmys.
Hamlisch's deft touch can be felt in the scores for such films as “Sophie’s Choice,” “Ordinary People,” “Three Men and a Baby,” “Ice Castles,” “Take the Money and Run,” Bananas,” “Save the Tiger,” “The Informant!,” and his latest effort, “Behind the Candelabra,” an upcoming HBO film about the life of Liberace.
On Broadway, Hamlisch's output was more mixed, but he did have a smash hit with “A Chorus Line,” which received the Pulitzer Prize. Other works such as “The Goodbye Girl” and “Sweet Smell of Success," garnered some critical praise, but were never fully embraced by audiences.
Something of a musical prodigy, Hamlisch was the youngest student to be admitted by the prestigious Julliard School of Music. As an up-and-coming musician, Hamlisch was hired by "Lawrence of Arabia," producer Sam Spiegel to play piano at his parties, which in turn led to his first film job scoring the 1968 film "The Swimmer," an adaptation of John Cheever's short story.
At the time of his death, Hamlisch held the position of Principal Pops Conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony and Pops, Seattle Symphony, and San Diego Symphony. Next week, he was to be announced as the Principal Pops Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Hamlisch was also due to conduct the New York Philharmonic in its upcoming New Year’s Eve concert.
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