Marvin Hamlisch, Composed ‘The Way We Were,’ Dies at 68
Composer and conductor Marvin Hamlisch, best known for the torch song “The Way We Were,” died Monday. He was 68 years old.
In a career that spanned over four decades, Hamlisch won virtually every major award: three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony, and three Golden Globes.
Hamlisch composed more than forty motion picture scores, including his Oscar-winning score and song for “The Way We Were,” and his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s ragtime music for “The Sting,” for which he received a third Oscar.
Hamlisch’s musical scores, though intricately conceived, never drew attention to themselves. They served to compliment the on-screen action, not overwhelm it — enhancing each gesture, each glance, each moment of drama. That subtle approach allowed him to be something of a musical chameleon, easily gliding from searing dramas to off-beat comedies and making him a close collaborator to a diverse group of directors such as Woody Allen, Steven Soderbergh and Alan J. Pakula.