Paul Francis Webster | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1907-12-20)December 20, 1907 New York City, United States |
| Died | March 18, 1984(1984-03-18) (aged 76) |
| Occupation | Lyricist |
Paul Francis Webster (December 20, 1907 – March 18, 1984)[1] was an Americanlyricist who won threeAcademy Awards for Best Original Song, and was nominated 16 times for the award.
Webster was born inNew York City, United States,[1] the son of Myron Lawrence Webster and Blanche Pauline Stonehill Webster. His family was Jewish. His father was born inAugustów, Poland.[2] He attended theHorace Mann School (Riverdale, Bronx, New York), graduating in 1926, and then went toCornell University from 1927 to 1928 andNew York University from 1928 to 1930, leaving without receiving a degree.[1] He worked on ships throughout Asia and then became adance instructor at anArthur Murray studio in New York City.[3][4] After college, Webster served as an officer in theU.S. Navy.[5][6]
By 1931, however, he turned his career direction to writing songlyrics.[1] His first professional lyric was "Masquerade" (music byJohn Jacob Loeb) which became a hit in 1932, performed byPaul Whiteman.[1]
In 1935,Twentieth Century Fox signed him to a contract to write lyrics forShirley Temple's films, but shortly afterward he went back to freelance writing. His first hit was a collaboration in 1941 withDuke Ellington on the song "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)".[1]
After 1950, Webster worked mostly forMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He won twoAcademy Awards in collaboration withSammy Fain, in 1953 and 1955, and another withJohnny Mandel in 1965.[1] Altogether, 16 of his songs receivedAcademy Award nominations; among lyricists, he is third afterSammy Cahn with 26 andJohnny Mercer, who was nominated 18 times. In addition, a large number of his songs became major hits on thepopular music charts.
Webster was the most successful songwriter of the 1950s on theUK Singles Chart. In 1967, he was asked to write the lyrics for theSpider-Man theme song[citation needed] for thetelevision cartoon series of the same name. He was inducted into theSongwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.[7] His papers are collected atSyracuse University Libraries.[8]
Webster's first born son,Guy Webster, was a prolific photographer of musicians and bands in the 1960s and 1970s.[9] His younger son, Mona Roger Webster, is a conceptual artist, a real estate investor and a longtime resident ofVenice, California.[citation needed]
Webster continued writing up to 1983.[4] He died in 1984 inBeverly Hills, California, and is buried at Hillside Memorial Park inCulver City, California.
Here is a partial list of songs for which he wrote the lyrics:[1][4][10][11]
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