Marilyn Bergman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marilyn Bergman (born November 10, 1929) is a composer, songwriter and author.

She was born Marilyn Keith in Brooklyn, New York and studied psychology and English at New York University. She and her husband Alan Bergman, whom she married in 1958, were born in the same hospital and raised in the same Brooklyn neighborhood, but didn't meet until each had relocated to Los Angeles. Together they have written the music and lyrics for numerous television shows, films, and stage musicals. One of their early successes was "Sleep Warm" the title track to Dean Martin's 1959 album on which Frank Sinatra was the 'guest' conductor. Sinatra sang his first of their compositions, "Love Looks So Well On You", on Sinatra Sings of Love and Things, which came out in 1962.

In 1983, the couple became the first songwriters ever to have written three of the five tunes nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song - "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" from Best Friends, "It Might Be You" from Tootsie (with Dave Grusin), and "If We Were in Love" from Yes, Giorgio (with John Williams).

Bergman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980, and in 1995 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Berklee College of Music. The following year, she received France's highest cultural honor, the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters medal.

Bergman currently is the president and chairman of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).

Bergman and her husband's credits include:

Lyrics for "The Windmills of Your Mind", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "Yellow Bird", "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?", and the score from Yentl, with music by Michel Legrand
Lyrics for "The Way We Were", with music by Marvin Hamlisch
Lyrics and music for Ballroom, a 1978 Broadway musical, "Never Say Never Again" from the film of the same name, the theme songs for the television series The Sandy Duncan Show; Maude and Good Times; Alice, with David Shire, and "Moonlight", featured in the film Sabrina
Lyrics for "I knew I loved you", the Quincy Jones produced Celine Dion song that was the theme for the movie Once Upon a Time in America with music by Ennio Morricone.