Robert Wells (songwriter)

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Robert Wells (born October 15, 1922 in Raymond , Washington , † September 23, 1998 in Santa Monica , California ; born Robert Levinson ) was an American songwriter , composer , screenwriter and television producer .

Life

Robert Wells was born into a Jewish family in Raymond, Washington. He attended college and then the University of South California , where he took courses in drama and speech. During World War II , he served in the United States Army Air Forces . Before and after the war he worked as a screenwriter and poet for television and radio.

From 1945 to 1949 he worked intensively with Mel Tormé . Her numerous hits included Born to Be Blue and A Stranger Called the Blues . For the film So Dear to My Heart , the two wrote the song Country Fair , which was not nominated for an Oscar. The jury nominated the title Lavender Blue by Eliot Daniel and Larry Morey from the same film . Their most famous co-written song is The Christmas Song , one of the most widely played Christmas carols in the world.

In 1949 the two parted ways. Wells continued to work in film and television. He composed and wrote the lyrics for Duke Ellington , Cy Coleman and Henry Mancini, among others . Many of his Unfortunately he wrote for Blake Edwards films , including A Shot in the Dark . He has also written songs for films such as Damned for All Eternity (1953), The Luring Venus (1954) and Blood on My Hands (1956).

With Mancini he was nominated for Best Song at the 1980 Academy Awards. The title Song from 10 (It's Easy to Say) came from the film Ten - The Dream Woman by Blake Edwards. However, the Oscar went to Norman Gimbel and David Shire for It Goes Like It Goes .

On television he wrote for The Dinah Shore Chevy Show , which he also produced. In addition, he wrote some variety pieces for television shows, in 1963 he wrote the title track for The Patty Duke Show . In his long career, he won a total of six Emmys , two for his work on a special for Shirley MacLaine and four more for The Dinah Shore Chevy Show .

Private life

From 1949 until her death in 1990 he was married to Broadway actress Lisa Kirk . He later married his second wife, Marilyn Jackson.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nate Bloom: All those Holiday / Christmas Songs: So Many Jewish Songwriters! . Jewish World Review . 22nd December 2014.
  2. ↑ [1]
  3. ↑ a b c Dick Vosburgh: Obituary: Robert Wells . In: The Independent . October 27, 1998. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
  4. ↑ a b Towering Song of 1998 . In: 1998 Award and Induction Ceremony . Songwriters Hall of Fame . Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 17, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.songwritershalloffame.org
  5. ^ Mel Tormé: It Wasn't All Velvet: An Autobiography . New York: Viking 1988.
personal data
SURNAME Wells, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Levinson, Robert (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American songwriter, composer, screenwriter, and television producer
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Raymond , Washington (State)
DATE OF DEATH September 23, 1998
Place of death Santa Monica , California