JOHNNY MANDEL

29 Jun

(23 November 1925 - 29 June 2020)

The American composer-orchestrator-arranger Johnny Mandel, who has died aged 94, was one of the busiest musicians in Hollywood. He wrote and conducted music for films and TV for over fifty years. From an early age he learned to play piano, trumpet and trombone and as a teenager began working with famous bands from 1940 onwards. He wrote popular songs and jazz and worked with singers including Sinatra, Streisand, Natalie Cole, Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett and Shirley Horn. His first film score was for I Want to Live! in 1958 and he subsequently wrote for The Americanisation of Emily, Harper, The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!, Point Blank, Under the Yum Yum Tree, M*A*S*H, Freaky Friday, Agatha, Being There, Caddyshack and The Verdict, among countless others. His song, ‘The Shadow of Your Smile’ from The Sandpiper, won him his only Academy Award as well as one of his five Grammys. The theme song ‘Suicide Is Painless’ for M*A*S*H is probably his most memorable tune and that too won several awards for being the Most Performed Theme. Johnny Mandel’s marriage to Lois Lee ended in divorce. He then married Martha Louise Blanner and they have a daughter, Marissa.

MICHAEL DARVELL

Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

JOHNNY MANDEL

CARL REINER

LOUIS MAHONEY