Weekly Movie Challenge

Fred Ebb

Biography

Fred Ebb was an Emmy, Grammy and Tony winning American musical theatre lyricist and bookwriter. In 1962 he teamed with John Kander to write Flora the Red Menace, produced by Hal Prince and directed by George Abbott, in which Liza Minnelli made her Broadway debut. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Minnelli and Chita Rivera. Their Broadway musicals Cabaret and Chicago have both been made into highly successful, Oscar winning films. Kander and Ebb also wrote the original songs for Funny Lady (1975) and secured their first Oscar nomination for the song "How Lucky Can You Get" from that film. The film New York, New York (1977) also had a score of original songs by Kander & Ebb which yielded two classic songs, the hugely popular title song and "But The World Goes 'Round". On television, Ebb produced Minnelli's Emmy-winning television special "Liza with a Z" in 1973. Ebb and Kander also provided specialty material for Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Rivera and many other stars.

Kander and Ebb's stage Musicals include Flora the Red Menace (1965) Cabaret (1966) The Happy Time (1968) Zorba (1968) 70 Girls 70 (1971) Chicago (1972) The Act (1978) Woman of the Year (1981) The Rink (1984) And The World Goes 'Round (1991) Kiss of the Spider Woman (1992) Steel Pier (1997) The Skin Of Our Teeth (1999) and The Visit (2001).