Pulitzer-prize winning composer Marvin Hamlisch died Monday at the age of 68. He is one of a handful of artists to win all the major creative prizes, including an Oscar for The Way We Were, a Grammy for best new artist, and a Tony and Pulitzer for A Chorus Line. Born in 1944 in New York, he was reproducing on the piano songs he heard on the radio at the age of 5 and was accepted into the Juilliard school at the age of 7. He had a long association with Barbra Streisand, beginning when he was rehearsal pianist for her show Funny Girl. But he said he had to beg her to sing the theme song from the 1973 film The Way We Were, noting “she thought it was too simple.” His score for the film The Sting made him a household name. In recent years Mr. Hamlisch became an ambassador for music, performing and giving talks at schools, often criticizing the cuts in arts education. For the full obituary see this NYT article.
Laura