ALAN JAY LERNER (1918-1986)

ALAN JAY LERNER

Born: August 31st, 1918 (New York)

Died: June 14th, 1986 (lung cancer)

Marriages: Ruth Boyd (1940-1947), Marion Bell (1947-1949), Nancy Olson (1950-1957), Micheline Muselli Pozzo diBorgo (1957-1965), Karen Gunderson (1966-1974), Sandra Payne (1974-1976), Nina Bushkin (1977-?) & Liz Robertson (1981-His death).

Children: All together he had five children.

Interesting Fact: He was on the Yearbook Committee of his High School with John. F. Kennedy.

Successful Era: Wrote Lyrics to songs in popular musicals from the early 50's on into the late 60's.

Awards: He has won three Oscars: Best Writing "An American in Paris" (1951) along with Best Writing & Best Music for "Gigi" (1958). He was nominated for: Best Music "Royal Wedding" (1951), Best Writing "My Fair Lady" (1964) and two Best Music Oscars for "The Little Prince" (1974). He has received six other achievements with nominations for an additional three.

My Favorite Film: From "My Fair Lady" (1964) to "Camelot" (1967) to "Brigadoon" (1954) I'm finding it hard to choose. Brigadoon would win as my favorite though. The story is more impressive to me.

Earlier on he became a Lyricist but found true success when he was teamed with Frederick Loewe in 1942. Since he lost the sight in his left eye from a boxing incident he was rejected during the war to serve in the military. Their first real hit together was "Brigadoon" in 1954. They went on to write songs for "My Fair Lady," "Camelot" & "Gigi" to name a few. Before his death he was approached by Andrew Lloyd Weber to write lyrics to a new play "Phantom of the Opera." Unfortunately his failing health did not allow him to participate as much as he would have liked.

Here is one of his best songs, "How to Handle a Woman"

MY FAIR LADY (1964)

Studio: Warner Brothers

Producer: Jack Warner

Director: George Cukor

Music: Frederick Loewe (Music) & Alan Jay Lerner (Lyrics)

Awards: "My Fair Lady" won an astounding eight Academy Awards: Best Actor, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Music, Best Sound & Best Picture. It was also nominated for four other Oscars: Best Supporting Actor (Stanley Holloway), Best Supporting Actress (Gladys Cooper), Best Film Editing & Best Writing. It also went on to be nominated for twenty-four other achievements, winning fourteen of them. You may have noticed that one of the Oscars left out was Best Actress for Audrey Hepburn.

Interesting Fact: President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during the production of this movie. Hepburn made the announcement to the cast after the song "Wouldn't it be Loverly" was filmed.

My Favorite Scene: Of all my favorite songs in this film, my favorite would have to be "Get Me to the Church on Time" sung by Stanley Holloway who reprised his role on Broadway. His accent with the dancing is just a treasure to watch.

Very few Broadway hits were unsuccessful when they came to the screen, but even fewer were as big of a hit. This film, to me, presents the spirit of perseverance in a comically loving way. It also teaches a little bit about humility. All that's left to add in the mixture is an amazing cast to perform it and a few hit songs to sing on the way. It is one of the few Musicals to get into the heart and feeling of a person.

Trailer

Soundtrack