Marvin Hamlisch, Composer of \'A Chorus Line,\' Dies at 68

By DAVE ITZKOFF

9:45 a.m. | Updated

Marvin Hamlisch, the singularly productive and sensationally decorated composer of musicals like “A Chorus Line” and songs like “The Way We Were,” has died, The Associated Press reported. A family spokesman told The A.P. that Mr. Hamlisch died in Los Angeles on Monday after a brief illness but did not provide additional details. Mr. Hamlisch was 68.

In a career that spanned film, television, theater and recorded music, Mr. Hamlisch won seemingly every award available in each medium. He was a 12-time Academy Award nominee, for his score and song contributions to films like “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Sophie's Choice,” and a three-time Oscar winner for the score of “The Sting” as well as its song “The Way We Were” (with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman). He won four Emmy Awards and four Grammy Awards, as well as a Tony Award for his sco re to the musical “A Chorus Line.” That musical, which blended bouncy, brassy songs like “One” and “Dance: Ten; Looks: Three” with melancholy numbers like “At the Ballet,” also won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1976.

As recently as last month, Mr. Hamlisch was working on a musical adaptation of the Jerry Lewis comedy “The Nutty Professor,” for which he wrote the score. According to his biography at his official Web site, he held the title of principal pops conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Pasadena Symphony and Pops, the Seattle Symphony and the San Diego Symphony.

In an interview in July, Mr. Hamlisch talked about the emotional investment he put into each piece of music he composed.

“I'm not one of those people who says, I never read reviews, because I don't believe those people,” Mr. Hamlisch said. “I think they read ‘em. These songs are my ba bies. And I always say, it's like having a baby in a hospital, taking a Polaroid and going up to someone and saying, ‘What do you think?' And he goes, ‘I give you a 3.' That's what criticism is like. You've worked on this thing forever â€" ‘I give you a 3.' And it's part of you. That's the bargain you've made.”