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Leo Robin

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Name
  
Leo Robin

Role
  
Composer


Spouse
  
Cherie Volman (m. ?–1984)

Albums
  
Faestningsdrengen

Leo Robin wwwsongwritershalloffameorgassetexhibit237im

Born
  
April 6, 1900 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. (
1900-04-06
)

Occupation(s)
  
Composer, lyricist, songwriter

Associated acts
  
Richard A. Whiting Sam Coslow Ralph Rainger Jule Styne

Died
  
December 29, 1984, Woodland Hills, California, United States

Movies
  
Hit the Deck, Make Way for Tomorrow

Similar People
  
Ralph Rainger, Jule Styne, Richard A Whiting, Harold Arlen, Vincent Youmans

P z play easy living leo robin and ralph rainger jamey aebersold


Leo Robin (April 6, 1900 – December 29, 1984) was an American composer, lyricist and songwriter. He is probably best known for collaborating with Ralph Rainger on the 1938 Oscar-winning song "Thanks for the Memory", sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938; collaborating with Jule Styne to write the score for the Broadway Musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which starred Carol Channing who introduced the iconic song “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend,” a few years later, Marilyn Monroe would reprise the role in the 1953 movie version; and collaborating with Ralph Rainger to write the song "Easy Living" for the 1937 film of the same name.

Contents

Leo Robin leorobinmusiccomwpcontentuploads20151074376

Since the debut of "Easy Living," it has become a jazz standard, made famous by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and many other jazz singers. It has regularly appeared in popular culture. It was heard again on the silver screen in the 1940 Christmas film Remember the Night and again in the 1949 film of the same as the song. Since then, it has been used in Clint Eastwood's critically acclaimed The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Academy Award-nominee Carol (2015) and many other movies and stage shows, most recently in the multitude of productions of the show Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, a play about Billie Holiday performing in a run-down bar and recounting some events in her life during one of her last performances, that has gone from Broadway (2014) to where it's at currently, the West End (2017).

Biography

Robin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and studied at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and at Carnegie Tech's drama school. He later worked as a reporter and as a publicist.

Robin's first hits came in 1926 with the Broadway production By the Way, with hits in several other musicals immediately following, such as Bubbling Over (1926), Hit the Deck, Judy (1927), and Hello Yourself (1928). In 1932, Robin went out to Hollywood to work for Paramount Pictures. His principal collaborator was composer Ralph Rainger, together they became one of the leading film songwriting duos of the 1930s and early 1940s, writing over 50 hits. Robin and Rainger worked together until Rainger's untimely death in a plane crash on October 23, 1942. Robin continued to collaborate with many other composers over the years, including Vincent Youmans, Sam Coslow, Richard A. Whiting, and Nacio Herb Brown. Leo Robin collaborated with Rainger on the 1938 Oscar-winning song "Thanks for the Memory," sung by Bob Hope in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938, which was to become Hope's signature tune.

Robin collaborated on the score for the 1955 musical film My Sister Eileen with Jule Styne, then officially retired from the movie industry. He is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1972. Robin wrote many popular songs, mostly for film and television, including "Louise," "Beyond the Blue Horizon" (both songs co-written by Richard A. Whiting), "Prisoner of Love" and "Blue Hawaii".

Death

Robin died of heart failure in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 84 and was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Work on films

Leo worked in more then 200 films including;

  • A Bedtime Story
  • Angel
  • Cadet Girl
  • Easy Living
  • Small Town Girl
  • The Crusades
  • Work on Broadway

  • Hit the Deck (1927), musical - co-lyricist
  • Allez-oop (1927), revue - lyricist
  • Just Fancy (1927), musical - lyricist
  • Hello Yourself (1928), musical - lyricist
  • Tattle Tales (1933), revue - contributing lyricist
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949), musical - lyricist
  • The Girl in Pink Tights (1954), musical - lyricist
  • Lorelei (Gentlemen Still Prefer Blondes) (1974), musical - lyricist
  • Posthumous credits or shows in which pre-written songs by Leo Robin were featured include:

  • Maurice Chevalier in an evening of Songs and Impressions (1955), concert
  • The American Dance Machine (1978), dance special
  • A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine (1980), revue - lyricist for "Louise", "Beyond the Blue Horizon", "Double Trouble", and "Thanks for the Memory"
  • Big Deal (1986), musical - lyricist for "Love Is Just around the Corner"
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1995 revival)
  • Fosse (1999), revue - lyricist for "Got No Room for Mr. Gloom"
  • Academy awards

    In 1938, he won the Oscar for “Thanks for the Memory.” Leo Robin was nominated for Ten Best Song Academy Awards

    Songs

    The Leo Robin Songbook is a catalog of over five hundred songs that Leo Robin wrote for Films and Broadway.

    References

    Leo Robin Wikipedia