Sound of Disney composer dies at 95
THE genius who wrote Chim Chim Cher-ee and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious with his brother has died aged 95.
Richard M Sherman, who won two Oscars for his work on Mary Poppins with sibling Robert B, had an age-related illness.
The Disney composers’ other classics included The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers, regularly used in Winnie The Pooh features, and I Wanna Be Like You and Trust In Me from Jungle Book in 1967.
Richard was held up as one of the world’s most prolific and enduring composer-lyricists and a key member of Walt Disney’s inner circle of creative talents.
He received nine Academy Award nominations during his 65-year career, sharing two with Robert for Chim Chim Cher-ee and the full 1964 Mary Poppins soundtrack. It also included Walt Disney’s favourite Feed The Birds and Jolly Holiday, from the film’s cartoon carousel sequence. The Shermans’ first non-Disney soundtrack was for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in 1968, including the theme tune and Truly Scrumptious.
Their other scores included The Aristocats in 1970, 1971’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks – in which Angela Lansbury sang The Age of Not Believing – Charlotte’s Web and Tom Sawyer, both 1973, and The Sword and the Stone in 1976.
That year, The Slipper and the Rose
– the Cinderella retelling they soundtracked – was picked as the Royal Command Performance, attended by the Queen Mother.
The Sherman brothers – who wrote more than 150 songs at Disney – were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and received the US National Medal of the Arts in 2008. They were portrayed in the 2013 film Saving Mr Banks, starring Tom Hanks and Dame Emma Thompson, which told the story behind the making of Mary Poppins. Robert died a year earlier in London aged 86. Paying tribute to Richard, Bob Iger, of The Walt Disney Company, said: “He was the embodiment of what it means to be a Disney legend, creating along with his brother Robert the beloved classics that have become a cherished part of the soundtrack of our lives. We are forever grateful for the mark Richard left on the world.” Pete Docter, of Pixar Animation Studios, said: “You don’t get songs like A Spoonful of Sugar without a genuine love of life, which Richard passed on to everyone lucky enough to be around him. Even in his 90s he had more energy and enthusiasm than anyone.” Richard, who died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills on Saturday, leaves wife Elizabeth, their two children Gregory and Victoria, and daughter Lynda from a previous marriage.