Marilyn Bergman, Oscar-Winning Lyricist, Dies at 93.
She wrote songs with her husband, Alan Bergman, for more than a half-century and for legends like Astaire, Sinatra and Streisand.
Lyricist Marilyn Bergman, who teamed with her husband, Alan Bergman, to win three Academy Awards as one of the most revered writing tandems in the annals of movie music history, has died. She was 93.
Bergman, whose work includes such classics as “The Windmills of Your Mind,” “Nice ’n’ Easy,” “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” and “The Way We Were,”
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Marilyn Bergman Cause of Death
died peacefully early Saturday morning in her Los Angeles home, according to family rep Ken Sunshine. The cause of death was respiratory failure (non-COVID related). Her husband, 96, survives her.
They won Academy Awards for the best original songs “The Way We Were” (shared with Marvin Hamlisch) from the 1973 Barbra Streisand film of that name.
and “Windmills of Your Mind” (shared with Michel Legrand) from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). (Watch them accept their Oscar here). They received another trophy for their score for Streisand’s Yentl (1983).
How did Marilyn Bergman die?
The prolific lyric team worked extensively for the movies, writing the lyrics for three of the five songs nominated for the best song Academy Award in 1983 — “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” (from Best Friends), “If We Were in Love” (from Yes, Giorgio), and “It Might Be You” (from Tootsie).
They netted three more noms the following year, all for their work with Legrand on Yentl.
In all, the Bergmans received 16 Oscar nominations. During the period from 1969-74, they received one Academy Award nom each year, which they shared with their composing partners: “Windmills of Your Mind,” “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” “Pieces of Dreams,” “All His Children,” “Marmalade, Molasses and Honey” and “The Way We Were.”
What happened to Marilyn Bergman
They teamed with an array of composers: Legrand (“Windmills of Your Mind”), Neil Diamond (“You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”), Quincy Jones (“The World Goes On), Sergio Mendes (“Look Around”) and Hamlisch (“The Way We Were”), among others.
Their collaborations with Hamlisch were particularly rich. In addition to an Oscar and a Grammy for The Way We Were, they garnered an Oscar nom with Hamlisch on “The Last Time I Felt Like This” from Same Time Next Year.
The Bergmans also won three Emmy Awards, two shared with Hamlisch for Barbra: The Concert and AFI’s 100 Years … 100 Movies and one for Sybil, shared with composer Leonard Rosenman.
They had a luminous association with Streisand, meeting the singer (and fellow Brooklynite) when she was still a teenager after they watched her perform at a club in New York. Their work with her included “On Rainy Afternoons,” “After the Rain,” “One Day” and “Evergreen.”
“Marilyn and Alan Bergman were like family, as well as brilliant lyricists,” Streisand said in a statement posted to her Twitter Saturday. “We met over 60 years ago backstage at a little night club, and never stopped loving each other and working together. Their songs are timeless, and so is our love. May she rest in peace.”
They were voted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980.
In 1985, Marilyn became the first woman elected to the board of directors of ASCAP and served as president and chairman of the performance-rights organization for 15 years through 2009.