Feted composer Marilyn Bergman dies at 93
Marilyn Bergman, the Oscar-winning songwriter who collaborated with husband Alan Bergman on The Way We Were, How Do You Keep the Music Playing? And hundreds of other songs have died at his Los Angeles home. She was 93 years old.
He died of respiratory failure related to COVID-19, according to Jason Lee, a representative. When she died on Saturday, her husband was on his bed.
The Bergmans, who married in 1958, were among the most enduring, successful and productive songwriting partnerships, specializing in introspective ballads for film, television and the stage, combining Tin Pan Alley's romance with the polish of contemporary pop. Used to connect
He worked with some of the world's top melodists, including Marvin Hamlish, Cy Coleman and Michelle Legrand, and was covered by some of the world's greatest singers, from Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand to Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson.
"If someone really wants to write songs that are original, that really speak to people, you have to feel like you've created something that wasn't there before — that's the ultimate achievement, right?" Marilyn Bergman told The Huffington Post in 2013.
"And to create something that wasn't there before, you have to know what came before you."
His songs included the passionate Streisand-Neil Diamond duet You Don't Bring Me Flowers, Sinatra's snappy Nice 'n' Easy, and Dean Martin's dreamy Sleep Warm. He helped write the uptempo themes in the 1970s sitcoms Maude and Good Times and collaborated on the words and music for the 1978 Broadway show Ballroom.
But he was best known for his contributions to films, sometimes the subjects remembered more than the films. Among the highlights: Stephen Bishop's It Might Be You from Tootsie; Noel Harrison's The Windmills of Your Mind from The Thomas Crown Affair; And, for Best Friends, a James Ingram-Patti Austin duet How do you keep music playing?
His pinnacle was The Way We Were, from the Streisand-Robert Redford romantic drama of the same name.
With Streisand's voice set to Hamlisch's moody, intense melody, it was the best-selling song of 1974 and an instant standard, proof that in the rock era, the public still embraced an old-fashioned ballad.
The Bergmans won three Oscars – for The Way We Were, Windmills of Your Mind and Soundtrack to Streisand's Mental – and received 16 nominations, three of them in 1983 alone. He also won two Grammys and four Emmys and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Fellow musician Quincy Jones called the news of her death crushing. "You, along with your dear Alan, were the epitome of Nadia Boulanger's belief that 'an artist can never be more or less than a human being,' he tweeted.
Streisand posted a photo of herself with Bergman on Twitter on Saturday, saying they are like family, as well as a wonderful songwriter.
"We met backstage at a small nightclub 60 years ago, and never stopped loving each other and working together," Streisand wrote.
His songs are timeless, and so is our love. May his soul rest in peace."
