He is one of a handful of people to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards, a feat dubbed the "EGOT".

[5] His first hit arrived when he was 21 years old: "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows", co-written with Howard Liebling and recorded by Lesley Gore.

Hamlisch and Liebling co-wrote the song "California Nights", which was recorded by Lesley Gore for her 1967 hit album of the same name.

16 on the Hot 100 in March 1967, two months after Gore had performed the song on the Batman television series, in which she guest-starred as an accomplice to Julie Newmar's Catwoman.

Among Hamlisch's better-known works during the 1970s were adaptations of Scott Joplin's ragtime music for the film The Sting, including its theme song, "The Entertainer".

Hamlisch acted as both straight man and accompanist while Marx, at age 81, reminisced about his career in show business.

The 1983 musical Jean Seberg, based on the life of the real-life actress, failed in its London production at the UK's National Theatre and never played in the U.S.[11] In 1986, Smile was a mixed success and had a short run on Broadway.

[12] Shortly before his death, Hamlisch finished scoring a musical theatre version of The Nutty Professor, based on the 1963 film.

[13] The show played in July and August 2012, at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) in Nashville, aiming for a Broadway run.

[29] He shared the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1976 with Michael Bennett, James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, and Edward Kleban for his musical contribution to the original Broadway production of A Chorus Line.

The show was aimed to provide a training bursary to a talented young man or woman with the potential to be a leader in song, dance, and acting.

[36] In May 1989, Hamlisch married Terre Blair, from Columbus, Ohio, who was the weather and news anchor for that city's ABC affiliate, WSYX-Channel 6.

[40] After a brief illness, Hamlisch collapsed in Los Angeles on August 6, 2012, and died later that day at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center at age 68.

[44] Barbra Streisand released a statement praising Hamlisch, stating it was "his brilliantly quick mind, his generosity and delicious sense of humor that made him a delight to be around".

[48][49][50] Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, and Liza Minnelli took turns singing songs by Hamlisch during a memorial service for the composer on September 18, 2012.

[57] The Anatomy of Peace was a book by Emery Reves which expressed the world-federalist sentiments shared by Albert Einstein and many others in the late 1940s, in the period immediately following World War II.