Oscar, Emmy, Grammy-winning lyricist Marilyn Bergman dies at 93

Marilyn Bergman the Oscar Emmy and Grammywinning songwriter whose lyrics graced hits such as The Way We Were The Windmills of Your Mind In the Heat of the Night and the songs from Yentl has died at age 93According to Variety Bergman was the first woman president and chairman of the board of the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers ASCAP a post she held from 1994 to 2009She and her husband and lifelong writing partner Alan Bergman wrote the words to some of the most popular film and TV songs of the 1960s 70s and 80s and continued to write together well into the 2000sThey were Oscarnominated 16 times and won three for Way We Were Windmills and the entire song score for Yentl The Bergmans were frequent collaborators with composers Michel Legrand their cowriter on Windmills Yentl and such other songs as What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life and How Do You Keep the Music Playing and Marvin Hamlisch The Way We WereASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams paid tribute to Bergman writing in a statement It is with deep sadness that I personally and all of ASCAP mourn the passing of Marilyn Bergman one of the greatest lyricists who ever lived and truly ASCAP royalty She was a brilliant songwriter who together with her husband Alan Bergman gave us some of the most beautiful and enduring lyrics of all timeHe added She was a tireless and fierce advocate for music creators not only during her term as President and Chairman of ASCAP but throughout her life Our community will miss her intelligence her wit and her wisdom Alan we mourn with youShe was born Marilyn Keith in Brooklyn majored in music at New Yorks High School of Music and Art then studied at NYU While still in high school she often played piano for lyricist Bob Russell He encouraged her to consider songwriting as a professionWhen she moved to Los Angeles in the mid1950s she began writing lyrics for composer Lew Spence and soon met Spences other lyricwriting partner Alan Bergman Marilyn and Alan were married in February 1958Among their early hits were Nice n Easy title track for the 1960 Frank Sinatra album written with Spence and Yellow Bird a calypso number for a 1959 Norman Luboff albumIn the Heat of the Night sung by Ray Charles was their big breakthrough film working with composer Quincy Jones in 1967 Numerous films with Legrand followed including The Thomas Crown Affair The Happy Ending Pieces of Dreams Summer of 42 Best Friends and Yentl many of which yielded hit songsWith Hamlisch they penned songs for The Way We Were Same Time Next Year and Shirley Valentine all of which resulted in Oscar nominations The Way We Were also won them 1974 Grammys for song of the year and best original score albumThey also collaborated with composer Dave Grusin on Tootsie And Justice for All and For the Boys with John Williams on Fitzwilly Pete n Tillie and Sabrina with David Shire The Promise and the theme for TVs Alice with Henry Mancini Sometimes a Great Notion and Gaily Gaily with Johnny Mandel Summer Wishes Winter Dreams with Elmer Bernstein From Noon Till Three and with James Newton Howard The Prince of TidesWith Grusin the Bergmans also wrote the TV themes for Maude and Good Times They won Emmys for the score of the 1975 TV musical Queen of the Stardust Ballroom with composer Billy Goldenberg a song for Sybil with Leonard Rosenman and two songs for Barbra Streisand for 1990s TV specials with HamlischMarilyn became the first woman to be elected to ASCAPs board of directors in 1985 and she continued to serve on the board even after stepping down as its presidentLongtime friends with Streisand she cowrote and coproduced the singers HBO special One Voice in 1986 and cowrote her concert tour later aired on HBO as Barbra Streisand The Concert in 1994As per Variety she is survived by her husband Alan a daughter Julie and a granddaughterThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever