The Hamlisch/Redford connection | The Salt Lake Tribune

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The entertainment world is mourning the loss of Marvin Hamlisch, the composer and arranger of dozens of movie scores — not to mention a Tony- and Pulitzer-winner for the Broadway classic "A Chorus Line." Hamlisch died Monday in Los Angeles, at the age of 68.

One thing that's notable in Hamlisch's long list of accomplishments is that he gained his fame in the 1970s, dovetailing with the height of actor Robert Redford's stardom.

Hamlisch won three Oscars at the 1974 Academy Award ceremony, for two Redford-starring movies. He won the Oscar for scoring the adaptation of Scott Joplin's ragtime music for "The Sting," and won two Oscars — for original dramatic score and for best song — for his work on the Redford/Streisand romance "The Way We Were."

Later, when Redford made his directorial debut with "Ordinary People" (1980), it was Hamlisch that Redford hired to adapt the musical score — primarily classical standards, most notably Pachelbel's Canon in D.