NEW YORK — Marilyn Bergman,Alan Bergman, the Oscar-winning Lyricist, teamed up with her husband to create this masterpiece. “The Way We Were,” “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?”She died Saturday at her Los Angeles home. She was 93.
Jason Lee, a representative of the family, said that she died from respiratory failure unrelated to COVID-19. Her husband was there to comfort her when she died.
The Bergmans married in 1958 and were one of the longest-lasting, most successful, and productive songwriting couples. They were known for their introspective ballades that could be used on film, television, and stage. Their songs combined the romance of Tin Pan Alley and contemporary pop.
They worked with some of the world’s top melodists, including Marvin HamlischCy Coleman and Michel Legrand, were covered by some of the world’s greatest singers, from Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand To Aretha Franklin Michael Jackson.
“If one really is serious about wanting to write songs that are original, that really speak to people, you have to feel like you created something that wasn’t there before — which is the ultimate accomplishment, isn’t it?” Marilyn Bergman, The Huffington Post2013 “And to make something that wasn’t there before, you have to know what came before you.”
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They sang the sentimental Streisand song.Neil Diamond Duet “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,” Sinatra’s snappy “Nice ’n’ Easy” and Dean Martin’s dreamy “Sleep Warm.”They contributed to the creation of the upbeat themes for sitcoms from the 1970s. “Maude” “Good Times”They collaborated on the lyrics and music for the Broadway show in 1978. “Ballroom.”
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However, they are best known for their contributions in filmmaking. They often created themes that were more popular than the movies. Among the highlights: Stephen Bishop’s “It Might Be You,”Starting at “Tootsie”; Noel Harrison’s “The Windmills of Your Mind,”Starting at “The Thomas Crown Affair”; and “Best Friends,”The James Ingram-Patti Austin duo “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?”
Their peak was “The Way We Were,”From the Streisand/Robert Redford romance drama of the exact same name.
Set to Hamlisch’s moody, pensive melody with Streisand’s voice, it was the top-selling song of 1974 and an instant standard, proof that well into the rock era, the public still embraced an old-fashioned ballad.
While it would have been difficult for fans to identify the Bergmans or recognize their names, they were able to summon the words to. “The Way We Were”:
“Memories, may be beautiful and yet / What’s too painful to remember / We simply choose to forget / So it’s the laughter / We will remember / Whenever we remember / The way we were.”
The Bergmans won three Oscars — for “The Way We Were,” “Windmills of Your Mind” and the soundtrack to Streisand’s “Yentl” — and received 16 nominations, three of them in 1983 alone. They won four Emmys and two Grammys.
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Quincy Jones, a fellow composerThe news of her death was shockingly reported. “You, along with your beloved Alan, were the epitome of Nadia Boulanger’s belief that ‘an artist can never be more or less than they are as a human being,’”He tweeted.
“To those of us who loved the Bergmans’ lyrics, Marilyn takes a bit our our hearts and souls with her today,”Tweet Norman Lear, creator “Maude” “Good Times.”
Marilyn Bergman was the first woman to be elected to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. She later served as chair and president. She was also first chair of National Recorded Sound Preservation Board of Library of Congress.
Streisand recorded more than 60 songs with them and dedicated an entire album to them. “What Matters Most,”Their material. When she was 18, the Bergmans met her as a nightclub singer and quickly became close friends.
“I just love their words, I love the sentiment, I love their exploration of love and relationships,”Streisand stated to The Associated Press, in 2011.
The Bergmans, like Streisand were Jews from Brooklyn’s lower-middle class families. Marilyn was born four years earlier than Alan, who was unmarried and was named Katz. They were both raised in the same area and have been avid fans of movies and music since childhood.
They both moved to Los Angeles in 1950 — Marilyn had studied English and psychology at New York University — but didn’t meet until a few years later, when they were working for the same composer.
The Bergmans seemed to be free from the tensions and boundaries of other songwriting teams. Their chemistry was likened to housework (one wash, one dries), or baseball (pitching and hitting), and they were so in tune that it was difficult to remember who wrote each lyric.
“Our partnership as writers or as husband and wife?”Marilyn spoke out to The Huffington Post about their relationship when they were asked. “I think the aspects of both are the same: Respect, trust, all of that is necessary in a writing partnership or a business partnership or in a marriage.”
Bergman is survived also by her husband, Julie Bergman.
