Composer Marvin Hamlisch dead at 68

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Composer Marvin Hamlisch has died in Los Angeles after a brief illness, a spokesman for his family said Tuesday. He was 68.

The New York Times confirmed Hamlisch's Monday death but said the cause of death wasn't immediately disclosed.

Hamlisch's Web site said he wrote the scores for more than 40 movies, as well as the Broadway musical "A Chorus Line." He won three Oscars, four Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, the Pulitzer Prize and three Golden Globe Awards through his distinguished career.

His film credits include "The Way We Were," "The Sting," "Sophie's Choice," "Ordinary People," "The Swimmer," "Three Men and a Baby," "Ice Castles," "Take the Money and Run," "Bananas," "Save the Tiger" and "The Informant!"

The graduate of New York's Juilliard School of Music and Queens College also created the music for Broadway's "They're Playing Our Song," "The Goodbye Girl" and "Sweet Smell of Success."

Hamlisch held the position of principal pops conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony and Pops, Seattle Symphony and San Diego Symphony.

At the time of his death, he was working on a new musical called "Gotta Dance" and the score for a film about Liberace, starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon and directed by Steven Soderbergh, Hamlisch's Web site said.