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Leslie Bricusse

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Leslie Bricusse
Birth nameLeslie Charles Bricusse
Born(1931-01-29)29 January 1931
Southfields, London, England
Died19 October 2021(2021-10-19) (aged 90)
Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
Occupations
Years active1952–2021
Spouse
​
(m. 1958)​

Leslie Bricusse OBE (/ˈbrɪkəs/;[1] 29 January 1931 – 19 October 2021) was a British composer, lyricist, and playwright who worked on theatre musicals and wrote theme music for films. He was best known for writing the music and lyrics for the films Doctor Dolittle; Goodbye, Mr. Chips; Scrooge; Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory; Tom and Jerry: The Movie; the titular James Bond film songs "Goldfinger" and "You Only Live Twice"; "Can You Read My Mind? (Love Theme from Superman)" (with John Williams) from Superman; and "Le Jazz Hot!" (with Henry Mancini) from Victor/Victoria.

Early life and education

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Bricusse was born in Southfields, London on 29 January 1931, the son of Annie Mary (née Mills[a]) and Cedric Bricusse, who already had a daughter. His paternal grandfather was Belgian, whilst his mother's father came from Belfast in Northern Ireland.[3] His father was employed by Kelmsley Newspapers for most of his working life.[4] When Bricusse was two years old, his parents relocated to Pinner, Middlesex,[b] and he was educated at University College School, Hampstead.[3]

After completing a two-year period of National Service with the Royal Army Service Corps,[5] he studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.[6][7] He was secretary of Footlights in 1952–53, and president the following year.[8][9] He also formed the Cambridge University Musical Comedy Club, and wrote the lyrics for its first production, Lady at the Wheel, in 1953.[10][11] It was during his college drama career that Bricusse began working for Beatrice Lillie.[12] After later starring in her stage show An Evening with Beatrice Lillie for a year, he decided to concentrate on writing rather than performing.[13]

Career

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In the 1960s and 1970s, Bricusse enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Anthony Newley. They wrote the musical Stop the World – I Want to Get Off (1961), which was the basis of a 1966 film version and featured the Grammy-winning Song of the Year “What Kind of Fool Am I?” Also in collaboration with Newley, Bricusse wrote the show The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd (1965) and music for the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), based on the children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. For the latter, they received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song Score. When he collaborated with Newley, the two men referred to themselves as "Brickman and Newburg" – nicknames which arose after an unsuccessful attempt to create a musical based on Ingmar Bergman's film comedy Smiles of a Summer Night.[14] "Newburg" concentrated mainly on the music and "Brickman" on the lyrics, whilst Ian Fraser often did their arrangements.[citation needed]

Working solely as a lyricist, he collaborated with composer Cyril Ornadel on Pickwick (1963), based on Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers, a successful vehicle for Harry Secombe. His later collaborators included Henry Mancini (Victor/Victoria in 1982 and Tom and Jerry: The Movie in 1992) and John Williams (Home Alone in 1990 and Hook in 1991).

Bricusse composed the music and lyrics for the songs in the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle, which co-starred Newley, and also wrote its screenplay. Although the movie flopped at the box-office,[15] "Talk to the Animals" earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Song. He also scored the film Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969).[citation needed]

Sammy Davis Jr. had hits with two songs by Bricusse, "What Kind of Fool Am I?" (1962), from Stop the World - I Want to Get Off, and "The Candy Man" (1972), from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. In the United States, the latter release topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for three weeks, and was the singer's biggest hit.[16][17]

Other recording artists who recorded successful versions of his songs include Nina Simone ("Feeling Good"), Matt Monro and Frank Sinatra ("My Kind of Girl"), Shirley Bassey ("Goldfinger"), Harry Secombe ("If I Ruled the World"), Nancy Sinatra ("You Only Live Twice"), The Turtles ("A Guide for the Married Man"), Maureen McGovern ("Can You Read My Mind"), and Diana Krall ("When I Look in Your Eyes").[18]

Bricusse partnered with George Tipton to write the opening theme of the American television sitcom It's a Living.[19]

Pure Imagination: The World of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, devised and directed by Bruce Kimmel, opened at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, California, on 7 December 2013. In 2015, it went to the St James Theatre, London.[20]

Bricusse was inducuted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989.[21] On 29 October 2001, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for "services to the film industry and the theatre"[22] from Queen Elizabeth II at a Buckingham Palace investiture ceremony.[23]

In 2015, he released a memoir entitled Pure Imagination: A Sorta-Biography, with a foreword by Elton John.[24]

Personal life

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Bricusse lived in California and in London, in an apartment overlooking the River Thames.[citation needed] He married actress Yvonne "Evie" Romain on 18 October 1958 at St James's Church, Marylebone.[25] The couple's son, Adam Cedric (born 4 April 1964),[26] pursued a career as an artist after studying fine art at Merton College, Oxford.[27][28]

Death

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Bricusse died in his sleep in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, on 19 October 2021, aged 90.[29][30] In 2024, his wife donated his papers, including 225 notebooks, to the Library of Congress.[31][32]

Works

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Musicals

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Songs

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Source:[40]

Awards

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Source:[41]

Nominations

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Source:[41]

Notes

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  1. ^ When Bricusse's parents were married, on 23 June 1923, his mother was a widow with the surname Vilander.[2]
  2. ^ Pinner is now in the London borough of Harrow

References

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  1. ^ "Say How: B". National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  2. ^ "London Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938". London Metropolitan Archives. P90/CTC2/022 – via Ancestry.com.
  3. ^ a b Bricusse (2015), pp. 10–12.
  4. ^ "Cedric Bricusse Writer's Father Dies In England". The Hamilton Spectator. Vol. 114, no. 95. 23 April 1959. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Leslie Bricusse obituary". The Times. London. 20 October 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  6. ^ "Oscar-winning Caian Leslie Bricusse (1931-2021) | Gonville & Caius". www.cai.cam.ac.uk.
  7. ^ Le Moignan, Nick (2015). "Pure Magic". Once a Caian. No. 15. Cambridge: Gonville & Caius College. pp. 10–11. Retrieved 10 December 2024 – via Issuu.
  8. ^ "Official site". LeslieBricusse.com. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  9. ^ Hewison (1983), p. 206.
  10. ^ G. R. (10 November 1953). "A Musical by Undergraduates". The Daily Telegraph. No. 30685. London. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Hewison (1983), p. 107.
  12. ^ Genzlinger, Neil (20 October 2021). "Leslie Bricusse, Prolific Songwriter for Stage and Screen, Dies at 90". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  13. ^ Bardsley, Garth (2003). Stop the World: The Biography of Anthony Newley. London: Oberon Books. pp. 75–76. ISBN 1840022744.
  14. ^ Harris, Mark (2009). Scenes from a Revolution: The Birth of the New Hollywood. Edinburgh: Canongate. p. 89. ISBN 978-1847671219.
  15. ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (1988). The Fox That Got Away: The Last Days of the Zanuck Dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. Syracuse, NJ: Lyle Stuart Inc. p. 326. ISBN 978-0818404856.
  16. ^ Bronson, Fred (2003). "Sammy Davis, Jr.". The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th ed.). New York: Billboard Books. p. 313. ISBN 0823076776.
  17. ^ Fishgall, Gary (2003). Gonna Do Great Things: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. New York: Scribner. p. 277. ISBN 0743227417.
  18. ^ "Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka". Kennedy-center.org. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  19. ^ "DEF: George Tipton and Leslie Bricusse "Theme from It's a Living"". Tunesmate.com. 17 February 2012.
  20. ^ Shenton, Mark (24 September 2015). "Mark Shenton's theatre picks: September 24". Thestage.co.uk. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  21. ^ "Songwriters Hall Of Fame To Induct 5 New Members". Billboard. Vol. 101, no. 3. New York. 21 January 1989. p. 84.
  22. ^ "Order of the British Empire". Supplement No. 1. The London Gazette. No. 56237. London. 16 June 2001. pp. B24–B25.
  23. ^ "Leslie Bricusse, songwriter who wrote lyrics for the Bond films and was best known for Doctor Dolittle and Willy Wonka – obituary". Msn.com.
  24. ^ "Goldfinger and Pure Imagination songwriter Leslie Bricusse dead at 90". Torontosun.com. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  25. ^ "Television Romance". Harrow Observer and Gazette. No. 5430. 23 October 1958. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ Bricusse (2015), pp. 145–146.
  27. ^ Bricusse (2015), p. 417.
  28. ^ Mills, Simon (13 April 1999). "Why the A-list hang Adam". Evening Standard. London. p. 34 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "Leslie Bricusse: 'Lyrical genius' of film dies aged 90". BBC News. BBC. 20 October 2021.
  30. ^ Burlingame, Jon (19 October 2021). "Leslie Bricusse, 'Willy Wonka,' 'Goldfinger' Songwriter, Dies at 90". Variety Magazine.
  31. ^ "Library of Congress Acquires Papers of Academy Award-Winning Songwriter Leslie Bricusse". Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. 13 February 2024. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  32. ^ Mondello, Bob (5 July 2024). "Take a sneak peek into a legendary songwriter's creative process". North Country Public Radio. Canton, NJ. Archived from the original on 5 July 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2024. (Includes transcript of segment from NPR news program All Things Considered).
  33. ^ "Stage productions". Songwritershalloffame.org. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  34. ^ "Film Scores". Songwritershalloffame.org. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  35. ^ Snelson, John (2017). "'We Said We Wouldn't Look Back': British Musical Theatre, 1935–1969". In Everett, William A. & Laird, Paul R. (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to the Musical (Third ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 159–184. ISBN 978-1107114746.
  36. ^ Wright (2017), p. 268.
  37. ^ "Stage listing". LeslieBricusse.com. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  38. ^ Wright (2017), p. 293.
  39. ^ Jones, Kenneth (29 July 2009). "A New 'Candy Man': Tony Nominee Babatundé Will Be Sammy in New Musical". Playbill.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2012.
  40. ^ "Song catalog". Songwritershalloffame.org. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  41. ^ a b c "Awards and nominations list". Songwritershalloffame.org. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  42. ^ "Golden Raspberry Awards: 1986". Lebeauleblog.com. 12 November 2015.

Sources

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  • Bricusse, Leslie (2015). Pure Imagination: The Life and Good Times of a Songwriter – A Sorta-biography. London: Faber Music. ISBN 978-0571539307.
  • Hewison, Robert (1983). Footlights! A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy. London: Methuen. ISBN 0413560503.
  • Wright, Adrian (2017). Must Close Saturday: The Decline and Fall of the British Musical Flop. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1783272358.
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