Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (March 22, 1930 – November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Among the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, Sondheim was praised for having "reinvented the American musical" with shows that tackled "unexpected themes that range far beyond the [genre's] traditional subjects" with "music and lyrics of unprecedented complexity and sophistication". His shows addressed "darker, more harrowing elements of the human experience" with songs often tinged with "ambivalence" about various aspects of life.
Sondheim started his theatre career by writing the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959) before becoming a composer and lyricist. Sondheim's best-known works include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), and Into the Woods (1987).
Sondheim's accolades include eight Tony Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2008), an Academy Award, eight Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, a Laurence Olivier Award, and a 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has a theater named for him both on Broadway and in the West End of London. Sondheim wrote film music, contributing "Goodbye for Now" for Warren Beatty's Reds (1981). He wrote five songs for 1990's Dick Tracy, including "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)", sung in the film by Madonna, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Film adaptations of Sondheim's work include West Side Story (1961), Gypsy (1962), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), A Little Night Music (1977), Gypsy (1993), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Into the Woods (2014), West Side Story (2021), and Merrily We Roll Along (TBD).
Filmography
all 98
Movies 84
self 40
TV Shows 14
Writer 10
Jonas Kaufmann: Arena di Verona 2023 (2023)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
Keeping Company with Sondheim (2022)
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends (2022)
Becoming Benanti: The Role of a Lifetime (2022)
The Stories of West Side Story (2022)
Cameron Mackintosh - The First 50 Years (2021)
West Side Story (2021)
Something's Coming: West Side Story (2021)
tick, tick... BOOM! (2021)
Simply Sondheim (2021)
Marry Me a Little (2020)
Kings of Broadway 2020: A Celebration of the Music of Jule Styne, Jerry Herman, and Stephen Sondheim (2020)
Chita: A Legendary Celebration (2020)
Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration (2020)
Celebrating Sondheim (2019)
On Broadway (2019)
Harold Prince: The Director's Life (2018)
National Theatre Live: Follies (2017)
West Side Stories: The Making of a Classic (2016)
Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened... (2016)
Judy Collins: A Love Letter to Stephen Sondheim (2016)
Gypsy (2015)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015)
Into the Woods (2014)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2014)
Follies (2013)
Six by Sondheim (2013)
Merrily We Roll Along (2013)
Sunday In the Park With George (2013)
A Place for Us - West Side Story's Legacy (2011)
Company (2011)
Into the Woods (2011)
Sondheim! The Birthday Concert (2010)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Burton + Carter + Depp = Todd (2008)
Company (2008)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Candide (2007)
Witness to 'Reds' (2006)
The Colbert Report (2005)
Passion (2005)
Candide (2005)
Broadway: The American Musical (2004)
Candide (2003)
Camp (2003)
Mostly Sondheim (2003)
West Side Memories (2003)
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003)
The Making of Sweeney Todd at the San Francisco Symphony (2002)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in Concert (2001)
Putting It Together (2001)
Walk on By: The Story of Popular Song (2001)
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh (1998)
Company (1996)
Passion (1996)
Inside the Actors Studio (1994)
Gypsy (1993)
Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall (1992)
Candide (1991)
Pebble Mill (1991)
Assassins: A Conversationpiece (1991)
Into the Woods (1991)
New York City Opera: A Little Night Music (1990)
Into the Woods: A Conversationpiece (1990)
Dick Tracy (1990)
Sunday in the Park with...Stephen (1990)
The Simpsons (1989)
Leonard Bernstein - Bernstein - Candide (1989)
Candide (1986)
Sunday in the Park with George (1986)
Follies: In Concert (1986)
Putting it Together: The Making of the Broadway Album (1985)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1982)
Reds (1981)
Sweeney Todd: Scenes from the Making of a Musical (1980)
The Kennedy Center Honors (1978)
A Little Night Music (1977)
All You Need Is Love: The Story of Popular Music (1977)
Pacific Overtures (1976)
Live from Lincoln Center (1976)
Stavisky... (1974)
June Moon (1974)
The Last of Sheila (1973)
Sondheim: A Musical Tribute (1973)
The Last of Sheila Featurette (1973)
Great Performances (1971)
Original Cast Album: Company (1970)
Evening Primrose (1966)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
Gypsy (1962)
The Merv Griffin Show (1962)
West Side Story (1961)
Tony Awards (1956)
The Oscars (1953)
Anyone Can Whistle
Road Show
Follies
Merrily We Roll Along
Ratings
Gallery
Information
Known ForWriting
GenderMale
Birthday1930-03-22
Deathday2021-11-26 (91 years old)
Birth NameStephen Joshua Sondheim
Birth PlaceManhattan, United States of America
CitizenshipsUnited States of America
ResidencesHollywood · New York City, United States of America
AwardsCritics' Circle Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts, National Medal of Arts, Hull-Warriner Award, Grammy Trustees Award, Kennedy Center Honors, Edgar Awards, Johnny Mercer Award, Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Praemium Imperiale, Laurence Olivier Award, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Library of Congress Living Legend, Society of London Theatre Special Award, Carl Sandburg Literary Award, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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