Steve Lawrence obit

Steve Lawrence, Grammy-Winning Pop Stylist and Actor, Dies at 88

He and his late wife, singer Eydie Gormé, was his "partner on stage and in life" for more than 55 years. 

He was not on the list.

Steve Lawrence, the charismatic Grammy- and Emmy-winning crooner who delighted audiences for decades in nightclubs, on concert stages and in film and television appearances, died Thursday. He was 88.

Lawrence died in Los Angeles of complications from Alzheimer’s disease, publicist Susan DuBow announced. He partnered with the late Eydie Gormé, his wife of 55 years, in a very popular act.

With his boyish good looks, silky voice and breezy personality, Lawrence broke into show business when he won a talent competition on Arthur Godfrey’s CBS show and signed with King Records as a teenager. The singer chose to stay old school and resist the allure of rock ‘n’ roll. It didn’t attract me as much,” Lawrence once said. “I grew up in a time period when music was written by Irving Berlin and Cole Porter and George and Ira Gershwin and Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart and Sammy Cahn and Julie Stein. Those people, I related to — what they were writing — because it was much more melodic.”

Lawrence’s smooth stylings were heard on dozens of solo albums, starting in 1953 with an eponymous LP. In 1963, he topped the Billboard Hot 100 with the Gerry Goffin-Carole King pop ballad “Go Away Little Girl.” The single became the first in history to reach No. 1 by two different artists after Donny Osmond recorded his version in 1971.

Lawrence also made the top 10 with 1957’s “Party Doll” (No. 5), 1959’s “Pretty Blue Eyes” (No. 9), 1960’s “Footsteps” (No. 7) and 1961’s “Portrait of My Love” (No. 9).

On Broadway, Lawrence starred as Sammy Glick in the long-running What Makes Sammy Run?, a musical adaptation of Budd Schulberg’s novel, and received a best actor Tony nomination in 1964. A year later, he hosted a short-lived CBS variety program, and in the 1970s, he was a semi-regular on The Carol Burnett Show, appearing on more than two dozen episodes.

Many will remember Lawrence for his portrayal of manager Maury Sline in The Blues Brothers (1980). When Jake (John Belushi) and Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) need to quickly raise money to save their childhood orphanage, they turn to Maury to book a gig. Lawrence utters one of the film’s most memorable lines when he hears how much they’re looking for. “Five thousand dollars?” he sputters. “Who do you think you are? The Beatles?”

He reprised the character in the 1998 sequel, Blues Brothers 2000.

Lawrence also played a pal of Steve Martin‘s greeting card writer in The Lonely Guy (1984); was Morty Fine, the father of Fran Drescher‘s character, on CBS’ The Nanny; and guest-starred on other series including Night Gallery; Sanford and Son; Murder, She Wrote; Frasier; Hot in Cleveland; and Two and a Half Men.

At the height of their popularity in the 1960s and ’70s, Lawrence and Gormé were one of show business’ hottest couples. If a variety show were on TV, it was only a matter of time before Steve & Eydie would be booked for it.

They won an Emmy in 1979 for their NBC special, Steve & Eydie Celebrate Irving Berlin, and had fun on game shows, appearing on What’s My Line?, I’ve Got a Secret and Password All-Stars, to name just a few.

When they weren’t shining on the small screen, they were wowing fans in concert and at top nightclubs throughout the country. They were a staple in Las Vegas, headlining Caesars Palace, the Sands, the Sahara and the Desert Inn, etc., and the Las Vegas Entertainment Awards honored them four times as Musical Variety Act of the Year. 

In 1981, Lawrence realized a lifelong dream when he and his wife performed a series of sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall. 

“They are both confident, full-throated singers who show the kind of assured stage presence that can come from years of playing to Las Vegas audiences,” John S. Wilson wrote in his review for The New York Times. “Mr. Lawrence, like so many singers who work in that milieu, uses singing mannerisms that owe a great deal to Frank Sinatra; Miss Gormé has a smoky voice with a powerful projection that enables her to belt out torch songs with a figure that brings such legendary singers as Sophie Tucker up to date.”

Steve Lawrence was born Sidney Liebowitz in Brooklyn on July 8, 1935. The son of a cantor, he grew up singing in synagogue choirs. Music was always a part of his life, but he didn’t know what direction it would take him until the day he listened to his first Sinatra record.

“I must’ve been 15 years old when I heard him. I think I knew [then] what I wanted to do with the rest of my musical life,” he said. “His influence — not only on me, but everyone who came after him — was so indelible, so powerful.”

(Lawrence would hang around with Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Park, and later, Steve & Eydie opened for Ol’ Blue Eyes on his Diamond Jubilee World Tour. For almost a year starting in 1990, they visited 13 countries for 41 sold-out performances that culminated with a concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden.)

Lawrence attended Thomas Jefferson High School, but books weren’t a priority. He would skip classes to spend his days in Manhattan at the Brill Building, hustling to make connections and pick up some cash singing demos. It was at the songwriting mecca that he first met Gormé; he was entering the building as singer Bob Manning, an acquaintance, was leaving with her.

“Bob said, ‘I want you to meet Eydie Gormé,’ ” Lawrence recalled in a 2014 interview with the Los Angeles Times. “She had her hair in a ponytail, and her ponytail hit me in my face.”

In 1953, they met again when they were each booked to sing on the Steve Allen-hosted Tonight!, a forerunner of The Tonight Show. They started doing duets and two years later collaborated on their first single together — “(Close Your Eyes) Take a Deep Breath”/ “Besame Mucho.”

Lawrence and Gormé were wed at the El Rancho Vegas hotel in December 1957. A few months later, they filled in for Allen with a summer replacement variety series that ran for eight weeks on NBC.

After he spent two years in the U.S. Army, they released three albums in 1960, including Steve & Eydie We Got Us, whose title track won them a Grammy.

In 1968, they headed to Broadway to star in the original musical Golden Rainbow, and that played for more than 380 performances. (Lawrence closed the first act by singing “I’ve Gotta Be Me,” later made popular by Sammy Davis Jr.)

Though they each enjoyed success as a solo act, audiences seemed to prefer Steve & Eydie together. And they did so until Gormé died of an undisclosed illness in August 2013. “Eydie has been my partner on stage and in life for more than 55 years,” Lawrence said then. “I fell in love with her the moment I saw her and even more the first time I heard her sing. While my personal loss is unimaginable, the world has lost one of the greatest pop vocalists of all time.”

A year after Gormé’s death, Lawrence released the solo album When You Come Back to Me Again. He had recorded it when she was ill and put it on hold when she died. When it came time to turn his attention back to music, Lawrence thought it only appropriate to dedicate the album to his wife and release it on Valentine’s Day.

“Eydie heard that album, and she thought it was terrific,” Lawrence said. “We were attached at the hip — Steve-and-Eydie. It was like we were one person, to be married that long.”

It was more than two years before Lawrence would return to the stage. On Valentine’s Day in 2016, he performed a selection of Sinatra tunes at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert.

Survivors include his son, David, a film and television composer whose credits include the High School Musical telefilms, daughter-in-law Faye, granddaughter Mabel and brother Bernie. Another son, Michael, died of heart failure in 1986 at age 23.

 

Actor

Jon Cryer, Ashton Kutcher, Angus T. Jones, and Sergio Kato in Two and a Half Men (2003)

Two and a Half Men

7.1

TV Series

Steve

2014

1 episode

 

Jason Isaacs, Laura Allen, and Dylan Minnette in Awake (2012)

Awake

7.9

TV Series

Jake

2012

1 episode

 

The Dreamsters: Welcome to the Dreamery (2011)

The Dreamsters: Welcome to the Dreamery

TV Movie

Steve Lawrence

2011

 

Melissa Gilbert, Robert Mailhouse, and Lennon Wynn in The Christmas Pageant (2011)

The Christmas Pageant

5.5

TV Movie

Peter Medoff

2011

 

Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick, and Betty White in Hot in Cleveland (2010)

Hot in Cleveland

7.4

TV Series

Jack

2011

1 episode

 

Phillips

Barfly

2009

 

Benjamin Bratt in The Cleaner (2008)

The Cleaner

7.1

TV Series

Sol

2008

1 episode

 

Ted Danson, Marg Helgenberger, Paul Guilfoyle, Robert David Hall, George Eads, Jorja Fox, Eric Szmanda, and David Berman in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000)

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

7.7

TV Series

Mitch Urbana

2005

1 episode

 

Dick Van Dyke and Barry Van Dyke in Diagnosis Murder (1993)

Diagnosis Murder

6.8

TV Series

Mike Rodzinski

2000

1 episode

 

The Yards (2000)

The Yards

6.4

Arthur Mydanick

2000

 

The Contract (1999)

The Contract

4.2

Captain O'Neil

1999

 

Fran Drescher in The Nanny (1993)

The Nanny

7.1

TV Series

Morty Fine

Steve Lawrence

1995–1999

3 episodes

 

American Express: Grand Canyon

Video

1998

 

Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman, J. Evan Bonifant, and Joe Morton in Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)

Blues Brothers 2000

4.9

Maury Sline

1998

 

Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, Peri Gilpin, and Jane Leeves in Frasier (1993)

Frasier

8.2

TV Series

Howard (voice)

1994

1 episode

 

Gene Barry and Peter Barton in Burke's Law (1994)

Burke's Law

6.5

TV Series

Danny Barnard

1994

1 episode

 

Dinah Manoff, Kristy McNichol, David Leisure, Richard Mulligan, and Park Overall in Empty Nest (1988)

Empty Nest

6.6

TV Series

Sonny Baxter

1994

1 episode

 

Bob (1992)

Bob

7.3

TV Series

Don Palermo

1992–1993

2 episodes

 

Angela Lansbury in Murder, She Wrote (1984)

Murder, She Wrote

7.2

TV Series

Mack Howard

1987

1 episode

 

Brian Keith and Daniel Hugh Kelly in Hardcastle and McCormick (1983)

Hardcastle and McCormick

6.6

TV Series

Sonny Daye

1984–1986

2 episodes

 

Alice in Wonderland (1985)

Alice in Wonderland

7.2

TV Mini Series

Tweedledum

1985

1 episode

 

Steve Martin in The Lonely Guy (1984)

The Lonely Guy

6.2

Jack

1984

 

John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in The Blues Brothers (1980)

The Blues Brothers

7.9

Maury Sline

1980

 

Joey Aresco, Ilene Graff, and Harrison Page in Supertrain (1979)

Supertrain

4.4

TV Series

Mike Post

1979

1 episode

 

Robert Forster, David Birney, and Richard E. Kalk in Police Story (1973)

Police Story

7.5

TV Series

Deke

Sgt. Curtis Bivins

1976–1978

2 episodes

 

Carol Burnett in The Carol Burnett Show (1967)

The Carol Burnett Show

8.7

TV Series

Guest - Various Characters

1975

1 episode

 

Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson in Sanford and Son (1972)

Sanford and Son

7.9

TV Series

Steve (as Steve)

1975

1 episode

 

The Dean Martin Show (1965)

The Dean Martin Show

8.1

TV Series

Aide-de-Camp

1974

1 episode

 

Here's Lucy (1968)

Here's Lucy

6.9

TV Series

Steve Lawrence

1973

1 episode

 

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967)

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

8.0

TV Series

Guest Performer

1972

1 episode

 

Stand Up and Be Counted (1972)

Stand Up and Be Counted

4.4

Gary McBride

1972

 

Rod Serling in Night Gallery (1969)

Night Gallery

7.9

TV Series

Mark Bennett aka 'Radha Ramadi' (segment "The Dear Departed")

1971

1 episode

 

The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971)

The New Dick Van Dyke Show

6.6

TV Series

Danny Turner

1971

1 episode

 

James Daly in Medical Center (1969)

Medical Center

7.1

TV Series

Dr. Sam Havers

1971

1 episode

 

The Tim Conway Comedy Hour (1970)

The Tim Conway Comedy Hour

7.2

TV Series

Various

1970

1 episode

 

The Kraft Music Hall (1967)

The Kraft Music Hall

6.2

TV Series

The Boy

1969

1 episode

 

Peter Sellers, Peter Fonda, Ben Gazzara, Richard Harris, Eva Marie Saint, Robert Shaw, and Rod Serling in Carol for Another Christmas (1964)

Carol for Another Christmas

6.5

TV Movie

Ghost of Christmas Past

1964

 

Nick Adams in Saints and Sinners (1962)

Saints and Sinners

5.6

TV Series

Whitey

1963

1 episode

 

Ed Sullivan in The Ed Sullivan Show (1948)

The Ed Sullivan Show

7.9

TV Series

Singer

1959–1961

2 episodes

 

Producer

Liner Notes

TV Series

producer

1984

 

Steve & Eydie Celebrate Irving Berlin

8.8

TV Special

executive producer

1978

 

Steve and Eydie ... On Stage

TV Special

executive producer

1973

 

Composer

Nickelodeon Days

7.1

Composer

1962