Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersSundance Film FestivalIndependent Spirit AwardsBlack History MonthSXSWSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Stephen Sondheim(1930-2021)

  • Music Department
  • Writer
  • Actor
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Stephen Sondheim at an event for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Trailer for Evening Primrose
Play trailer2:20
Evening Primrose (1966)
1 Video
14 Photos
He did his pre college training at George School, Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, then was in a class of 50 at Williams College majoring in music as an undergraduate distinguishing himself by writing a book, lyrics and music for two college shows based on the adaption of 'Beggar on Horseback'. He won the Hutchinson prize to study music composition for 2 years. His first professional writing was in 1953 when he co authored the script for the television series'Topper'. A year later he wrote all the music and lyrics for'Saturday night' . In 1955 he started work on 'West Side Story' and also found time to writ scripts for 'The Last Word' for Columbia Broadcasting and the background music for' The Party Girls of Summer' For the film of 'West Side Story' he created new and powerful lyrics for the 'America' sequence, which is the only major alteration from the Broadway production.
BornMarch 22, 1930
DiedNovember 26, 2021(91)
BornMarch 22, 1930
DiedNovember 26, 2021(91)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Won 1 Oscar

Photos14

Thomas Z. Shepard and Stephen Sondheim in Original Cast Album: Company (1970)
Stephen Sondheim in Original Cast Album: Company (1970)
Stephen Sondheim in Original Cast Album: Company (1970)
Stephen Sondheim in Great Performances (1971)
Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Burton, and Stephen Sondheim in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Meryl Streep and Stephen Sondheim at an event for Into the Woods (2014)
Stephen Sondheim
Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim
Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton, Richard D. Zanuck, and Stephen Sondheim at an event for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Stephen Sondheim at an event for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Known for

Warren Beatty in Dick Tracy (1990)
Dick Tracy
6.2
  • Music Department
  • 1990
Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
7.3
  • Music Department
  • 2007
"West Side Story" (Saul Bass Poster) 1961
West Side Story
7.6
  • Music Department
  • 1961
Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort in West Side Story (2021)
West Side Story
7.2
  • Music Department
  • 2021

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Music Department

  • Merrily We Roll Along
    • In Production
  • Follies
    • Pre-production
  • Robert A. Levine, Justin Souriau-Levine, Haitham Wahab, Laura Hausman, Roger Younger, Emmanuel Rouy, Tracy Pogue, Sébastien Freland, Chjara Varasteh, Marco Rosati, Beth Namiat, Marc Wahab, Antoine Bonnefoy, and Scott Widener in Planet of the Astronauts (2022)
    Planet of the Astronauts
  • Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort in West Side Story (2021)
    West Side Story
  • Stage-To-Screen (2020)
    Stage-To-Screen
  • Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration (2020)
    Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration
  • Stars in the House (2020)
    Stars in the House
  • Joshua Bell, Hugh Downs, Renée Fleming, Alan Gilbert, Lorin Maazel, Natalia Makarova, Audra McDonald, Zubin Mehta, Itzhak Perlman, Louis Perry, Beverly Sills, Martin Bookspan, and Fred Child in Live from Lincoln Center (1976)
    Live from Lincoln Center
  • 41 Days - The Rehearsal Process for SweeneyTodd
  • Kristen Bell, Holly Megan Scott, Mark-Eugene Garcia, Billy Vitale, Carrie Comerford, Kristin Snowden, Christy Carson Ratray, Kait Holbrook, and Dan Silva in Encore! Back to the Woods (2017)
    Encore! Back to the Woods
  • National Theatre Live: Follies (2017)
    National Theatre Live: Follies
  • Sondheim on Sondheim
  • Imelda Staunton in Gypsy: Live from the Savoy Theatre (2015)
    Gypsy: Live from the Savoy Theatre
  • Meryl Streep in Into the Woods (2014)
    Into the Woods
  • Opéra de Toulon's Follies (2013)
    Opéra de Toulon's Follies
  • Fifty Years on Stage (2013)
    Fifty Years on Stage
    • (segment A Little Night Music)
  • Merrily We Roll Along (2013)
    Merrily We Roll Along

Writer

  • All You Need Is Love (1977)
    All You Need Is Love
  • The Last of Sheila (1973)
    The Last of Sheila
  • Gaby Stenberg in Mit navn er ... (1963)
    Mit navn er ...
  • Rendezvous (1957)
    Rendezvous
  • Anne Jeffreys in Topper (1953)
    Topper

Actor

  • Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Daniel Craig, Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista, Leslie Odom Jr., Janelle Monáe, Madelyn Cline, and Jessica Henwick in Glass Onion (2022)
    Glass Onion
  • Andrew Garfield in tick, tick... BOOM! (2021)
    tick, tick... BOOM!
    • (voice)
  • Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, and Yeardley Smith in The Simpsons (1989)
    The Simpsons
    • (voice)
  • Camp (2003)
    Camp
  • Great Performances (1971)
    Great Performances
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos1

Evening Primrose
Trailer 2:20
Evening Primrose

Personal details

Edit
  • Official sites
    • Apple Music
    • Encyclopedia
    • March 22, 1930
    • New York City, New York, USA
    • November 26, 2021
    • Roxbury, Connecticut, USA(natural causes)
    • 2017 - November 26, 2021 (his death)
  • Other works
    Lyrics for the musical "West Side Story"
  • Publicity listings
    • 8 Print Biographies
    • 3 Portrayals
    • 8 Articles
    • 1 Magazine Cover Photo

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    He stated that his original ambition was to become a mathematician and that he became a composer largely by chance. A big influence was the fact that famed lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II (of Rodgers & Hammerstein) was a neighbor of his when Sondheim was a boy. When he wrote a musical for a school production, he showed it to Hammerstein who told him it was the worst musical he had ever read. However, Hammerstein also told him that nonetheless it showed a lot of latent talent and proceeded to tell him everything that was wrong with it and how to fix it, for which Sondheim was always grateful.
  • Quotes
    My idea of heaven is not writing.

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.