Photo: Shel Secunda / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Hamlisch was a once-in-a-generation melodist who somehow made sophisticated craft sound effortless and emotional. The fact that he won every major award and a Pulitzer almost undersells how warmly his music lands; the theme from The Way We Were can still wreck you in eight bars. A Chorus Line is one of the most beloved scores in Broadway history, and his arrangement work on The Sting introduced a whole generation to Scott Joplin. He had genuine showmanship as a conductor too. The musical theater and film worlds lost an irreplaceable voice when he died in 2012.
Overview
Marvin Hamlisch (1944-2012) was an American composer and conductor born in Manhattan, New York. A child prodigy who studied at Juilliard and Queens College, he became one of the rare EGOT winners, holding Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards, plus a Pulitzer Prize for the musical A Chorus Line. His celebrated work includes the scores for The Way We Were and The Sting and the song Nobody Does It Better.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Marvin Hamlisch
- Name (Japanese)
- マーヴィン・ハムリッシュ
- Reading
- まーゔぃん・はむりっしゅ
- Born
- June 2, 1944 – August 6, 2012
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Monkey
- Origin
- Manhattan, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- Composer / Conductor / Songwriter / Film score composer / Actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Queens College (City University of New York)
Awards & achievements
- 1974 Academy Award (Best Original Song)
- 1975 Grammy Award (Best New Artist)
- 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
- 1976 Tony Award (Best Original Score, Musical)
- Grammy Award (Song of the Year)
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Composer — see all → · Conductor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.