Lerner, Alan Jay

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LERNER, ALAN JAY

LERNER, ALAN JAY (1918–1986), U.S. lyric writer and librettist who collaborated in several successful musicals. Lerner was born in New York and wrote for advertising agencies and radio before teaming up with the composer, Frederick Loewe. Their first hit was the musical Brigadoon (1947), which was followed by Paint Your Wagon in 1951. Lerner also worked independently and won an Oscar in 1951 with his screenplay for An American in Paris. His greatest success came in 1956 when, with Loewe, he created My Fair Lady (based on Shaw's Pygmalion). The Lerner and Loewe film musical Gigi (1958) won Oscars, and in 1960 their Camelot had a two-year run on Broadway.

With the composer Burton Lane, Lerner wrote On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965) and with André Previn, Coco (1969), the story of the "queen" of Paris fashions, Coco Chanel.

bibliography:

D. Even, Complete Book of the American Musical Theater (1958), 194–200; I. Martin, Pete Martin Calls On… (1962), 449–59; Current Biography Yearbook (1958), 241–4.

[G. Eric Hauck]

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