The prolific lyricist who wrote for James Bond and Willy Wonka

1931–2021

Leslie Bricusse won acclaim for his musical contributions to movies such as Goldfinger and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. But not everyone appreciated his work. After the songwriter was hired to write the screenplay and lyrics for the 1967 musical Doctor Doolittle, the film’s star, Rex Harrison, objected to the words he was expected to sing. “‘Rhinoceros’ does not rhyme with ‘of courseros,’” he griped. “It does,” Bricusse replied, “if you pronounce it ‘of cos-eros.’” Harrison begrudgingly sang the line in “Talk to the Animals,” which earned Bricusse his first of two Oscars.

Born in London, Bricusse felt an early yen for showbiz, “entertaining his classmates with made-up stories” during World War II air raids, said The Washington Post.

He wrote musical comedies while at Cambridge University, and after graduating began writing sketches and music for stage and TV. In 1959, he formed a writing partnership with British actorsinger Anthony Newley. The pair would collaborate on two Tony-nominated musicals, Stop the World—I Want to

Get Off and The Roar of the Greasepaint—The Smell of the Crowd, and team up with John Barry to write the theme to the 1964 James Bond movie Goldfinger.

Bricusse estimated that he wrote or co-wrote some 1,000 songs—including “Feeling Good” and “The Candy

Man,” which became hits for Nina Simone and Sammy Davis Jr. respectively—and they “earned him a glittering lifestyle of champagne-fueled partying,” said The Times (U.K.). He was still busy at work in his 80s: His plans to stage a musical about Davis Jr. were put on hold last year by the pandemic. Bricusse wasn’t bothered by such disappointments, saying simply, “We’re all being directed by the Department of Fate.”

Leslie Bricusse