The Buzz

Prolific Composer Dies At 68

Reporter: Associated Press

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Broadway theatres will dim their lights tomorrow night in memory of Marvin Hamlisch.

The prolific composer collapsed and died yesterday in Los Angeles after a brief illness, according to his publicist. Hamlisch was 68.

The New York native composed music for films, for powerful singers such as Liza Minnelli and Aretha Franklin, and high-kicking dancers of the Tony-winning "A Chorus Line." Hamlisch was perhaps best known for adapting composer Scott Joplin on "The Sting."

His more than 40 film scores included "Sophie's Choice," `'Ordinary People," `'The Way We Were" and "Take the Money and Run."

Hamlisch became one of the most decorated artists in history, winning three Oscars, four Emmys, four Grammys, a Tony, a Pulitzer and three Golden Globes.

Barbra Streisand calls him "a true musical genius, but above all that, he was a beautiful human being."