Friday, December 6, 2024

Marvin Hamlisch: Stars Pay Respects at Pre Funeral Visitation

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Composer and friend to all Marvin Hamlisch–triple Oscar winner, Grammy, Tony and Pulitzer winner– was paid respect by scads of celebs at his pre-funeral visitation on Monday night. The second session, from 7 to 9pm, was a dignified, solemn affair at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home on Madison Avenue. Liza Minnelli, dressed in black, came a with a friend, spent some time with Hamlisch’s lovely wife, Terre Blair Hamlisch, then took a seat in the front pew of the receiving room. No one could miss opera legend Jessye Norman, who also took her place in the front row.

Behind her sat MSNBC’s Chris Matthews with members of his family. Waiting patiently on the greeting line to comfort Terre and take a walk past the closed casket were former Yankees manager Joe Torre and playwright John Guare. Leonard Lauder, head of Estee Lauder, flew in from his summer vacation.

Sitting in the frow next to Liza: singer Idina Menzel, who often toured with Hamlisch.  Meanwhile, a nice touch: a jazz pianist played standards quietly on a white baby grand piano. Tuesday’s funeral will also be open to the public, but should come off with just as much decorum. By the way: paparazzi must have been so overwhelmed by Robert Pattinson’s movie premiere, that none of them showed outside Campbell’s. The Hamlisches caught a bit of luck.

By the way, when I mentioned to Terre that this column had been flooded with personal stories from the famous and the normal about Marvin’s largesse, big heart, unpublicized gifts, she agreed. “That’s all we’ve heard for days, the great things Marvin did for people and no one knew about.”

Just a PS: In the late Julia Phillips’s famously pointed memoir, “You’ll Never Eat Lunch in this Town Again,” Julia recalled all the crazy people with whom she made “The Sting” unsparingly. Hamlisch is the only one she almost failed to mention it all. She had nothing bad to say about him. It’s a badge of honor!

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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