Breaking News

Syrians begin piecing their lives back together a week after rebels overthrow Assad

News Wrap: Displaced Gazans struggle to escape fighting between Israel and Hamas

What caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan? Here's what we know so far

Plane crash probe in Kazakhstan underway as speculation mounts about possible Russian involvement

Google Maps helps solve murder mystery by capturing moment a person put suspected corpse into car in Spain

France rushes aid to Mayotte, with hundreds feared dead and hunger rising after Cyclone Chido

Germany’s Chancellor Scholz loses a confidence vote, setting up an early election in February

Gaza death toll tops 45,000 from Israel-Hamas war, health officials say

2024-12-22

548 Read.

Marvin Laird, Broadway and Film Composer and Musical Director for Bernadette Peters, Dies at 85 

Marvin Laird, who composed music for Broadway and the big screen and served as Bernadette Peters’ musical director for many years, has died. He was 85.

Laird died Monday of natural causes in Redding, Connecticut, a family spokesperson announced.

Marvin conducted for such hit Broadway revivals as 1999-2001’s Annie Get Your Gun, 2003-04’s Gypsy and 2011-12’s Follies, all starring Peters. He also worked with the famed performer in 2009 for a concert benefiting her charity, Broadway Barks.

Related Stories

Aziza Barnes TV

Aziza Barnes, 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' and 'Snowfall' Writer, Dies at 32

Audra McDonald Joy Woods in Gypsy Lifestyle

'Gypsy' Theater Review: Audra McDonald Climbs the Mountain of One of the All-Time Greatest Musicals and Plants a Triumphant Flag

“My beloved Marvin had impeccable style and a delicious sense of humor, and his generous spirit has made everyone he worked with fall in love with him,” the two-time Tony winner said in a statement. “I was a major beneficiary of Marvin’s genius and generosity of support and love.”

He conducted concerts for her as well as for Joel Grey, Diana Ross, Cass Elliot, Dusty Springfield and Goldie Hawn.

Laird wrote music and/or arrangements for such films as Gene Kelly’s Hello, Dolly! (1969), starring Barbra Streisand; Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York (1977), starring Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro; and Robert Altman’s The Company (2003), starring Neve Campbell; and for the ballet Smile With My Heart.

He scored TV shows including Maude, Quincy, M.E., Dynasty and The Love Boat and composed the score for 1992’s Ruthless! The Musical, which continues to find new audiences today.

Born on Oct. 26, 1939, in Kansas City, Kansas, Laird got his start on Broadway in 1964 as a musical assistant on Ben Franklin in Paris, directed and choreographed by Michael Kidd and starring Robert Preston. It was the first of his 12 career assignments on the Great White Way.

Survivors include Joel Paley, his “partner in marriage and co-pilot for 48 years”; his brother, Larry; his sister-in-law, Jeanne; and his nieces, Lana and Lynnette.