Celebrated composer Marvin Hamlisch has died, age 68

According to the global media today and reported by the New York Times, Marvin Hamlisch, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer of stage and screen, passed away on Monday in his family home in Los Angeles. He was 68 years old.

One of only eleven people to achieve the coveted ‘EGOT’ status — winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award — and one of only two people to have achieved this status and also won a Pulitzer Prize, Hamlisch will be remembered as one of the world’s most talented and beloved composers.

He was a prolific screen composer, winning the Oscar for The Way We Were (and developing a strong relationship with Barbra Streisand), and working on films such as The Sting, Sophie’s Choice, and The Informant!.

On stage Hamlisch is perhaps best known for his score of A Chorus Line, for which he won both a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Best Original Score Written for the Theatre. A Chorus Line is one of the most highly regarded and enduring musicals in the modern world; it is currently touring Australia. He also composed the music for They’re Playing Our Song, with a book by Neil Simon.

Broadway theatres will dim their lights tonight for Marvin Hamlisch. His contribution to the worlds of music and theatre will be long remembered.