Ray Evans

Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4 1915 – February 15 2007) was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films. Evans wrote the lyrics and Livingston the music for the songs.

Evans 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 won three Academy Awards,cite web |url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20011019/ai_n14430221 |title= Obituary: Jay Livingston |author= Spencer Leigh |work= The Independent |date= 19 October 2001 |quote= ] 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.

Evans, who was born Jewish, but later strayed away from organized religion, citing it as a major cause of violence in the worldcite web | last =Bloom| first =Nate| authorlink =| coauthors =| title=The Jews Who Wrote Christmas Songs| publisher =InterfaithFamily| date =2006-12-19 | url =http://www.interfaithfamily.com/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ekLSK5MLIrG&b=297399&ct=3303147| format =| accessdate =2006-12-19 ] was born in Salamanca, New York. 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. [cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6370925.stm |title=Que Sera composer Ray Evans dies |publisher=BBC News |date=2007-02-17 |accessdate=2007-02-17]

Work on Broadway

*"Sons o' Fun" (1941) - revue - featured songwriter
*"Oh, Captain!" (1958) - musical - co-composer and co-lyricist with Jay Livingston - Tony nomination for Best Musical
*"Let It Ride" (1961) - musical - co-composer and co-lyricist with Jay Livingston
*"Sugar Babies" (1979) - revue - featured songwriter with Jay Livingston for "The Sugar Baby Bounce"

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0263143|name=Ray Evans
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2016760,00.html Obituary] , "The Guardian", February 20 2007
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2287022.ece Obituary] , "The Independent", February 20 2007
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=D3SLQKPLHJTLBQFIQMFSFFOAVCBQ0IV0?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2007/02/21/db2102.xml Obituary] , "The Telegraph", February 20 2007