David Shire
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Biography
A prolific composer who divides his time between theater, TV and film, David Shire began writing in earnest as an undergraduate at Yale in the late 1950s. Introduced to classmate Richard Maltby Jr., the pair soon formed a writing partnership that has continued on and off for nearly four decades. Their first collaborations were undergraduate shows ("Cyrano de Bergerac" in 1958 and "Grand Tour" in 1959). Following graduation, the pair's first professional show debuted in 1969, the short-lived "The Sap of Life" (1961). Over the years, they have collaborated on numerous songs, primarily lilting ballads, that have been recorded by artists ranging from Barbra Streisand to Andy Williams to Liz Callaway. Maltby and Shire have been the subject of two Off-Broadway revues, "Starting Here, Starting Now" (1977) and "Closer Than Ever" (1989). They have also written the scores for two Broadway musicals "Baby" (1983) and "Big" (1996), both of which earned them Tony Award nominations.
While Shire's theater music is generally lush and catchy, his film scores have served their material well. He made his debut with Andrew V. McLaglen's "One More Train to Rob" (1971) and hit a peak in the 1970s with scores for such films as Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" (1974) and Alan J Pakula's "All the President's Men" (1976). Shire provided additional music and adapted the disco score for John Badham's "Saturday Night Fever" (1977), picking up a Grammy Award for his efforts. In 1979, he was nominated for two Oscars for Best Song, winning the statue for "It Goes Like It Goes" from "Norma Rae." He has remained active through the 80s and 90s with such features as "2010" (1984), "'night Mother" (1986) and "Bed and Breakfast" (1992).
In addition to his stage and feature work, Shire has been scoring small screen efforts since the 1970s, amassing over 100 credits to date. He has earned Emmy nominations for four of his TV scores: "Raid on Entebbe" (NBC, 1977), "The Defection of Simas Kudirka" (CBS, 1978), "Do You Remember Love?" (CBS, 1985), and "The Kennedys of Massachusetts" (ABC, 1990). Among his many other notable music credits are "The Women of Brewster Place" (ABC, 1989), "Sarah, Plain and Tall" (CBS, 1991) and its 1993 sequel "Skylark" (CBS), the Emmy-winning "Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story" (NBC, 1995) and "The Heidi Chronicles' (TNT, 1995).
From 1970 to 1978, Shire was married to actress-director Talia Shire (for whom he scored her debut feature "One Night Stand" in 1995). He married actress Didi Conn in 1984.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Writer (Special)
Music (Special)
Special Thanks (Special)
Misc. Crew (Special)
Music (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1958
First collaboration with Richard Maltby Jr, stage musical based on "Cyrano de Bergerac"; written while both were undergraduates at Yale
1961
Wrote first score for a stage musical "The Sap of Life"; book and lyrics by Maltby
1970
Wrote score for first TV-movie, "McCloud: Who Killed Miss U.S.A.?"
1971
Scored first film, "One More Train to Rob"
1977
Adapted score of "Saturday Night Fever"; won Grammy Award
1977
Reteamed with Maltby for Off-Broadway revue "Starting Here, Starting Now"
1979
Earned two Oscar nominations for Best Song; won for "It Goes Like It Goes" from "Norma Rae"
1983
First Broadway collaboration with Maltby, "Baby"
1989
Second Off-Broadway revue of Maltby-Shire songs, "Closer Than Ever"
1995
Wrote score for the Broadway adaptation of the film "Big"
1998
Composed the score for the TV remake of "Rear Window"; received Emmy nomination
2001
Reteamed with Maltby for the score of the stage musical "Take Flight"; performed at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center
2001
With Maltby, penned original songs featured in the ABC TV-movie "These Old Broads"
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