Leslie Bricusse Wiki – Leslie Bricusse Biography
Leslie Bricusse, the film and stage composer whose long list of hits and standards includes Willy Wonka’s “The Candyman” and the Chocolate Factory, Doctor Dolittle’s “Talk To The Animals,” and “What Kind of Fool Am I?” from Stop the World-I Want to Get Off, died today. He was 90 years old.
Known for his collaborations with Anthony Newley, Sammy Davis Jr., John Barry, and Henry Mancini, Bricusse wrote or co-wrote now-classic theater or film songs such as “Goldfinger,” a 1964 Shirley Bassey hit, and two Davis sung hits, including “The Candyman” (from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory from 1971, and “What Kind Of Fool Am I?” (from Stop the World – I Want to Get Off from 1961).
Bricusse won his first Oscar for Doctor Dolittle’s 1968 “Talk To The Animals” and for co-writing the 1982 score with Henry Mancini. Victor / Victoria, including the most popular song from that musical, “Le Jazz Hot!”
A partial list of movies with songs written or co-written by Bricusse includes Doctor Dolittle (1967),
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), Scrooge (1970), Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), Beyond the Rainbow (1978), Victor Victoria (1982) and Hook (1991).
Broadway credits include such musicals as Stop the World – I Want to Get Off (1961), Pickwick (1963), The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd (1965), Victor / Victoria (1995), Jekyll & Hyde (1997) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2017).
Leslie Bricusse Age
Leslie Bricusse was 90 years old.
Family
Bricusse resided in California and was married to actress Yvonne Romain and had a son, Adam.
Leslie Bricusse Cause of Death
His death was announced today by his son Adam Bricusse in a Facebook post. The cause of death was not specified.
“My dear father passed away peacefully this morning,” wrote Adam Bricusse. “Please raise a glass for him.”
Leslie Bricusse, an Oscar-winning songwriter and lyricist who enchanted children with his musical confections for “Doctor Dolittle” and “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”, seduced his parents with crooner standards “What Kind of Fool Am I ? ” and “Who can I turn to?” and helped write the title song for the James Bond movie “Goldfinger”, he died on October 19 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France. He was 90 years old.
His son, Adam Bricusse, confirmed the death but did not provide the cause.
Bricusse also contributed lyrics to Henry Mancini’s compositions in the musical film “Victor / Victoria” (1982), starring Julie Andrews as a distressed singer who pursues success by pretending to be a man posing as a woman. The songwriters shared an Oscar, and the music was repeated in a hit Broadway production, again with Andrews, which ran from 1995 to 1997. (Mr. Bricusse and Mancini shared an Oscar nomination for their original song “Life in a Looking Glass “from the 1986 film” That’s Life! “)
Read Also: Who is Peter Fray-Witzer? Wiki, Biography, Age, Student Radiator Column Goes Viral