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Nancy Hamilton
Actress, Singer, Lyricist, Writer, Producer, Film Director
(1908 - 1985)
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Nancy Hamilton was a woman of many talents: a singer, actress, lyricist, writer, producer and film director. She was educated at Smith College and the Sorbonne in Paris. Her stage credits include performances in The Warrior’s Husband (1932), New Faces of 1934 (for which she also wrote lyrics to the music of and Pride and Prejudice (1935).
Her collaboration with composer Morgan Lewis produced three Broadway revues--One for the Money (1939), Two for the Show (1940), and Three to Make Ready (1946)--for all of which she wrote the sketches and the lyrics, also performing in the first one. The partners enjoyed modest success with “At Long Last It’s Love,” “On the Other Hand,” “If It’s Love,” “The Old Soft Shoe,” “A Lovely, Lazy Kind of Day,” and “It’s a Nice Night for It,” but their claim to fame would be “How High the Moon” from Two for the Show. Les Paul and Mary Ford had a huge hit with their electronically enhanced version in the ‘50s, and in 1997 the song received the Towering Song Award from the National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Hamilton also wrote special material for some of the leading actors and actresses of the day such as Mary Martin, Beatrice Lillie, and Cyril Ritchard. Her 1938 play, Return Engagement, written with James L. Shute, was adapted for the film Fools for Scandal, and in 1943 she adapted the screenplay for Du Barry Was a Lady.
In 1954 Hamilton directed a film of the life of Helen Keller, The Unconquered, which won the 1955 Academy Award for best documentary. Morgan Lewis scored the film.
- Sandra Burlingame |
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