Ray Evans
Encyclopedia
Raymond Bernard Evans was an American
songwriter
. He was a partner in a composing
and songwriting duo with Jay Livingston
, known for the songs they composed for film
s. Evans wrote the lyrics
and Livingston the music for the songs.
. He was valedictorian of his high school class, where he played clarinet in the band, and received a bachelor's degree in Economics
from the University of Pennsylvania
's Wharton School in 1937. He was elected that same year to Pi Gamma Mu
, the honor society in the social sciences for his outstanding academic performance at the Wharton School.
Livingston and Evans, both members of ASCAP, won three Academy Award
s, in 1948
for the song "Buttons and Bows
", written for the movie The Paleface; in 1950
for the song "Mona Lisa
", written for the movie Captain Carey, U.S.A.
; and in 1956
for the song "Que Sera Sera
", featured in the Alfred Hitchcock
movie The Man Who Knew Too Much
and sung by Doris Day
. Another popular song that he and Livingston wrote for a film was the song "Tammy
", written for the 1957 movie Tammy and the Bachelor
. The song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. Livingston and Evans also wrote popular TV themes for shows including Bonanza
and Mr. Ed. Their Christmas song Silver Bells intended for the 1951 Bob Hope film The Lemon Drop Kid
, has become a Christmas standard.
In 1958, the songwriting team was nominated for a Tony Award
for the musical Oh, Captain!
Evans also collaborated separately with Henry Mancini
, Max Steiner
, and Victor Young
. The song "Dear Heart" from the 1964 film of the same name was written by Livingston and Evans with Henry Mancini; it was nominated for an Oscar and for the Song of the Year Grammy Award
, and was recorded multiple times, charting for Andy Williams
, Jack Jones
, and Henry Mancini
.
Ray Evans is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall Of Fame.
He died at age 92 in Los Angeles, California
, on the 42nd anniversary of the death of Nat King Cole
, who had made "Mona Lisa" so famous.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. He was a partner in a composing
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and songwriting duo with Jay Livingston
Jay Livingston
Jay Livingston was an American composer and singer best known as half of a songwriting duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote the music and Evans the lyrics....
, known for the songs they composed for film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s. Evans wrote the lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
and Livingston the music for the songs.
Biography
Evans, who was born Jewish, but later moved away from organized religion, citing it as a major cause of violence in the world was born in Salamanca, New YorkSalamanca (city), New York
Salamanca is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States, located inside the Allegany Indian Reservation. The population was 6,097 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
. He was valedictorian of his high school class, where he played clarinet in the band, and received a bachelor's degree in Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
from the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
's Wharton School in 1937. He was elected that same year to Pi Gamma Mu
Pi Gamma Mu
Pi Gamma Mu or ΠΓΜ is the oldest and preeminent honor society in the social sciences. It is also the only interdisciplinary social science honor society. It serves the various social science disciplines which seek to understand and explain human behavior and social relationships as well as their...
, the honor society in the social sciences for his outstanding academic performance at the Wharton School.
Livingston and Evans, both members of ASCAP, won three Academy Award
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
s, in 1948
21st Academy Awards
The 21st Academy Awards features numerous firsts. It was the first time a non-Hollywood production won Best Picture, Hamlet. It was the first time an individual directed himself in an Oscar-winning performance...
for the song "Buttons and Bows
Buttons and Bows
"Buttons and Bows" is a popular song. The music was written by Jay Livingston with lyric by Ray Evans. The song was published in 1947. The song appeared in the Bob Hope and Jane Russell film, The Paleface, and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song...
", written for the movie The Paleface; in 1950
23rd Academy Awards
The 23rd Academy Awards Ceremony awarded Oscars for the best in films in 1950. The nominations were notable this year, as All About Eve was nominated for fourteen Oscars, beating the previous record of Gone with the Wind.-Awards:...
for the song "Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa (Nat King Cole song)
"Mona Lisa" is a song written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston for the Paramount Pictures film Captain Carey, U.S.A. . It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for 1950. The arrangement was by Nelson Riddle and the orchestral backing was played by Les Baxter and his Orchestra...
", written for the movie Captain Carey, U.S.A.
Captain Carey, U.S.A.
Captain Carey, U.S.A. is a 1950 drama film starring Alan Ladd, Wanda Hendrix, and Francis Lederer. An American returns to post-World War II Italy to bring a traitor to justice.The film was based on the novel No Surrender by Martha Albrand...
; and in 1956
29th Academy Awards
During the 29th Academy Awards, the regular competitive category of Best Foreign Language Film was introduced, instead of only being recognized as a Special Achievement Award or as a Best Picture nominee . The first winner in this new category was Federico Fellini's La strada with Anthony Quinn and...
for the song "Que Sera Sera
Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Qué Será, Será)
"Que Sera, Sera ", first published in 1956, is a popular song which was written by the Jay Livingston and Ray Evans songwriting team....
", featured in the Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
movie The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film)
The Man Who Knew Too Much is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. The film is a remake in widescreen VistaVision and Technicolor of Hitchcock's 1934 film of the same name....
and sung by Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
. Another popular song that he and Livingston wrote for a film was the song "Tammy
Tammy (song)
"Tammy" is a popular song with music by Jay Livingston and lyrics by Ray Evans. It was published in 1957 and debuted in the film Tammy and the Bachelor. It was nominated for the 1957 Academy Award for Best Original Song....
", written for the 1957 movie Tammy and the Bachelor
Tammy and the Bachelor
Tammy and the Bachelor is a 1957 romantic comedy film and is the first of the four Tammy films. It stars Debbie Reynolds as Tambrey "Tammy" Tyree, Walter Brennan as Grandpa Dinwitty and Leslie Nielsen as Peter Brent...
. The song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. Livingston and Evans also wrote popular TV themes for shows including Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
and Mr. Ed. Their Christmas song Silver Bells intended for the 1951 Bob Hope film The Lemon Drop Kid
The Lemon Drop Kid
The Lemon Drop Kid is a 1951 comedy film based on the short story of the same name by Damon Runyon, starring Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell, and directed by Sidney Lanfield.The song "Silver Bells," sung by Hope and Maxwell, was introduced in the film...
, has become a Christmas standard.
In 1958, the songwriting team was nominated for a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for the musical Oh, Captain!
Oh, Captain!
Oh, Captain! is a musical comedy based on the film The Captain's Paradise, which had been written by Alec Coppel and Nicholas Phipps. The film starred Alec Guinness as a philandering ship's captain, with a wife in one port and a mistress in another. The musical starred Tony Randall, and updated the...
Evans also collaborated separately with Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
, Max Steiner
Max Steiner
Max Steiner was an Austrian composer of music for theatre productions and films. He later became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Trained by the great classical music composers Brahms and Mahler, he was one of the first composers who primarily wrote music for motion pictures, and as...
, and Victor Young
Victor Young
Victor Young was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. He was born in Chicago.-Biography:...
. The song "Dear Heart" from the 1964 film of the same name was written by Livingston and Evans with Henry Mancini; it was nominated for an Oscar and for the Song of the Year Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
, and was recorded multiple times, charting for Andy Williams
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
, Jack Jones
Jack Jones
Jack Jones may refer to:In the arts*Jack Jones , Welsh novelist and playwright*Jack Jones , American jazz and pop singer*Jack Jones , singer now known as Irwin ThomasIn politics...
, and Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
.
Ray Evans is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall Of Fame.
He died at age 92 in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, on the 42nd anniversary of the death of Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
, who had made "Mona Lisa" so famous.
Work on Broadway
- Sons o' Fun (1941) - revueRevueA revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
- featured songwriter - Oh, Captain!Oh, Captain!Oh, Captain! is a musical comedy based on the film The Captain's Paradise, which had been written by Alec Coppel and Nicholas Phipps. The film starred Alec Guinness as a philandering ship's captain, with a wife in one port and a mistress in another. The musical starred Tony Randall, and updated the...
(1958) - musical - co-composer and co-lyricist with Jay Livingston - TonyTony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination for Best MusicalTony Award for Best MusicalThis is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack... - Let It RideLet It Ride (musical)Let It Ride is a Broadway musical based on the 1935 Broadway farce Three Men on a Horse by George Abbott. The musical, with book by Abram S. Ginnes and music and lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, opened in New York at the Eugene O'Neill Theater on October 12, 1961, and played 68 performances...
(1961) - musical - co-composer and co-lyricist with Jay Livingston - Sugar BabiesSugar BabiesSugar Babies is a musical revue conceived by Ralph G. Allen and Harry Rigby, with music by Jimmy McHugh, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and Al Dubin and various others. The show is a tribute to the old burlesque era...
(1979) - revue - featured songwriter with Jay Livingston for "The Sugar Baby Bounce"
External links
- The Ray and Wyn Ritchie Evans Foundation Official Website
- Obituary, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, February 20, 2007 - Obituary, The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, February 20, 2007 - Obituary, The TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, February 20, 2007