Bob Merrill born 17 May 1921

Henry Robert Merrill Levan (May 17, 1921 – February 17, 1998) was an American songwriter, theatrical composer, lyricist, and screenwriter. Merrill was one of the most successful songwriters of the 1950s on the US and UK single charts. His musicals for the Broadway stage include Carnival! (music and lyrics) and Funny Girl (lyrics). 

The son of a sweet- manufacturer, Merrill was born in 1921 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but raised in Philadelphia. He was educated at Temple University, and then studied acting under Richard Bennett (father of the film stars Joan and Constance). He worked as a night-club singer and comedian, also touring in vaudeville before service in the Second World War, after which he hitch- hiked to Hollywood and worked as a porter before joining NBC radio as a writer. In the late 1940s he joined Columbia Pictures as a dialogue director, then moved to CBS as a television casting director. 

Merrill was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and raised in Philadelphia over his family's candy factory and soda fountain. As a teenager, he wanted to be a singer and performed in all local talent contests and even worked as an impressionist-emcee at a local burlesque house. His plans for a career in show business were cut short by the advent of World War II, when he was drafted into the Horse Cavalry Division of the Army. 

He started composing in 1947, though he could neither read music nor play a musical instrument. He composed by tapping out melodies on a toy xylophone, using a numbering system to notate melodies. He moved to Hollywood, where he worked as a dialogue director for Columbia Pictures. In 1950 had his first major pop hit, "Candy and Cake", a hit recording for both Arthur Godfrey and Mindy Carson. It was followed by "If I Knew You Were Coming I'd've Baked a Cake" (1950) and a string of top hits for Guy Mitchell, including in 1951 alone "My Truly Truly Fair", which sold a million records, "Belle, Belle, My Liberty Belle" and "Sparrow in the Tree Top" (which employed three melodies, two in counterpoint). British recording stars who had hits with his songs included Tony Brent with "Walkin' to Missouri" (1952) and Dickie Valentine with the liltingly pretty "All the Time and Everywhere" (1953). 

                                        

Merrill made his Broadway debut in 1957 with New Girl in Town, a musical adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie. The show was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical. Take Me Along followed in 1959, with music and lyrics by Merrill, starring Jackie Gleason and Walter Pidgeon. The musical was nominated for the 1960 Tony Award for Best Musical. 

Jule Styne, Streisand and Merrill

In 1961, the film Lili was made into the Broadway musical Carnival!, starring Anna Maria Alberghetti, with words and music by Merrill. The show was nominated for the 1962 Tony Award for Best Musical. He had theatrical success with the 1964 musical Funny Girl starring Barbra Streisand, which introduced the standards "People" and "Don't Rain on My Parade". Merrill and songwriting partner Jule Styne were nominated for the 1964 Tony Award for Best Original Score. When the stage show was adapted as a 1968 film, he and Styne were asked to write a title tune, which was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Original Song and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. 

Merrill & Jackie Gleason

Producer David Merrick hired Merrill to write additional songs for the musical Hello, Dolly! by Jerry Herman. Merrill contributed the songs "Motherhood March" and "Elegance", as well as additional lyrics to Herman's "It Takes a Woman". Merrill did not accept billing or credit for his additions to the score. Merrill's other Broadway credits include Breakfast at Tiffany's (1966), Henry, Sweet Henry (1967), Sugar (1972) (reworked as Some Like It Hot for a 1992 production in London's West End starring Tommy Steele and a 2002-2003 United States national tour starring Tony Curtis as Osgood Fielding, Jr.), and The Red Shoes (1993). He provided lyrics to "Loss of Love", the theme song composed by Henry Mancini for the 1970 Italian drama film Sunflower. 

He wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Prettybelle (1971), starring Angela Lansbury and directed by Gower Champion, which closed in Boston during tryouts. He wrote the music and lyrics for The Prince of Grand Street (1978), starring Robert Preston and directed by Gene Saks, which also closed during its Boston tryouts (following negative reviews during the earlier Philadelphia tryout). Among Merrill's television credits were two holiday specials: Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)  and The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood (1965), written for Liza Minnelli. 

Merrill was married to Dolores Marquez in 1964; they divorced and he married Suzanne Reynolds in 1976.Suffering from depression by a series of debilitating illnesses, on 17 February 1998 he drove his car to a lonely spot and shot himself. He was 76 years old. A few months after he died, his last new work came out: a straight-to-video family film called The Animated Adventures of Tom Sawyer. 

(Edited from Wikipedia  & The Independent)