Just about the only award Marvin Hamlisch hasn't won is something about peace that gets handed out in Sweden each year. Along the way, he's become one of the United States' best-known conductors and composers by simply doing what he loves, a feat he still finds amazing.
What are you planning on doing at UNLV?
What I do is I bring a singer and I will be playing and doing stuff from, obviously, A Chorus Line, The Way We Were, The Sting. I'll be doing some Cole Porter. And also we will be making up songs on the spot, which we do a lot, called Rent a Composer. Also because we're on campus, I'll be doing a Q&A, if anyone has any major issues.
You've won Oscars, Grammys, Emmys, a Tony, Golden Globes and a Pulitzer. What's the next one you'd like to win?
It's an interesting thing that you mention that, and I'll tell you how I answer it. Let's assume that today for some reason I was going to be in an actual running race, then that would mean I would be going for first place. I'd be running against other competitors, and there'd be an obvious winner and an obvious loser. And that's something you prepare for and really try for. Most awards that one gets, the ones that you're talking about, are not anything that you actually go after. They come supposedly because the work that you did was good, and then your peers decide they want to give you an award. Because it's like that, I don't really try to think what's the next award I'm going to get, because most of the time, I'm not in it for the award.
You were married for the first time at 45. You must have had to make a lot of adjustments.
I had to buy a lot of beige. Everything has to be beige. Once you get married, beige is all I know. The walls are beige, the carpets are beige. You can say the word "blue," but it's going to be beige.
Two words: Ski Party.
That was the first song I had in a movie. I didn't even know what was happening. I wrote the song independently of the film, and somehow or other, Quincy Jones was involved and he got the song over to Leslie Gore, and the next thing you know, it was in a film.
Did you act in that, as well?
No, no, no. The only thing I've done in my acting career, as you probably know, is to be the stage double for Robert Redford, because he's losing it now.
He is. And can a man's face get any more wrinkled?
No, so that's why I'm there. I put on my little thing, a couple of little marks on my face, and I go out there—oh, hold on a second. I'll be right there!—They're at the door right now. Women from everywhere, just begging me.
Speaking of which, I thought you were the only redeeming moment of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
Tell me one thing, between me and you: Let's say I was—how come that film made about $200 million? It made a fortune. Explain that to me. It got the worst reviews. I've decided that reviews by now are almost meaningless when it comes to movies. Because people are going to go. For $8, they don't care. It's amazing to me. What is really scary about my career now is that there are people who come up to me, and I'm expecting them to say, "Gee, I loved Chorus Line." And they'll say, "You know, I really loved you in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days." And that's what's really scary.
There's an autographed 8x10 of you on eBay going for $15. Do you think that's a fair price?
I think that's way too high. I wouldn't pay more than 4 cents for anything of mine. Really, 4 cents is about it. If somebody wants an autograph of me, and they send me a request, I send them a picture for nothing. So why would you pay $15? On the other hand, I'd like to know what my competitors are getting, I'd like to know what Andrew Lloyd Webber and Burt Bacarach are getting.