Editing Alan Jay Lerner

{{short description|American lyricist and librettist (1918–1986)}}
{{for|the big band leader|Al Lerner (composer)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name         = Alan Jay Lerner
| image        = Alan Jay Lerner (1962).jpg
| caption      = Lerner, {{circa}}{{nbsp}}1962
| image_size   =
| birth_name   =
| alias        =
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1918|8|31|mf=y}}
| birth_place  = New York City, US
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1986|6|14|1918|8|31}}
| death_place  = New York City, US
| origin       =
| instrument   =
| genre        = [[Musical theatre]], [[Popular music|popular]]
| occupations  = [[Lyricist]], [[librettist]]
| years_active = 1942&ndash;1986
}}

'''Alan Jay Lerner''' (August 31, 1918 &ndash; June 14, 1986) was an American [[lyricist]] and [[librettist]]. In collaboration with [[Frederick Loewe]], and later [[Burton Lane]], he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of [[musical theatre]] both for the stage and on film. Lerner won three [[Tony Award]]s and three [[Academy Awards]], among other honors.

==Early life and education==
Lerner was born in [[New York City]] to a Jewish family. He was the son of Edith ({{née}} Adelson) and Joseph Jay Lerner, whose brother, Samuel Alexander Lerner, was founder and owner of the [[Lerner Stores]], a chain of dress shops. One of Lerner's cousins was the radio comedian and television game show panelist [[Henry Morgan (comedian)|Henry Morgan]]. Lerner was educated at [[Bedales School]] in England, [[Choate Rosemary Hall|The Choate School]] (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut, (where he wrote "The Choate Marching Song") and [[Harvard University|Harvard]]. He attended both [[Camp Androscoggin]] and [[Camp Greylock]].<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7DC1E3AF937A25755C0A964958260 "The Executive Life; And No One Mentions The Many Mosquitoes"]''[[The New York Times]]'', June 14, 1992</ref> At both Choate and Harvard, Lerner was a classmate of [[John F. Kennedy]]; at Choate they had worked together on the yearbook staff.<ref name=tcm>[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/participant.jsp?spid=112326&apid=8980  "Alan Jay Lerner: Biography"]{{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} [[Turner Classic Movies]], accessed August 1, 2009</ref>  Like [[Cole Porter]] at [[Yale]] and [[Richard Rodgers]] at [[Columbia University|Columbia]], his career in musical theater began with his collegiate contributions, in Lerner's case to the annual Harvard [[Hasty Pudding Theatricals|Hasty Pudding]] musicals.<ref>Green, p.238</ref> During the summers of 1936 and 1937, Lerner studied music composition at [[Juilliard]]. While attending Harvard, he lost his sight in his left eye due to an accident in the boxing ring. In 1957, Lerner and [[Leonard Bernstein]], another of Lerner's college classmates, collaborated on "Lonely Men of Harvard", a tongue-in-cheek salute to their alma mater.

==Career==
Owing to his eye injury, Lerner could not serve in [[World War II]]. Instead he wrote radio scripts, including ''[[Your Hit Parade]]'', until he was introduced to German-[[Austria]]n composer [[Frederick Loewe]], who needed a partner, in 1942 at the [[Lamb's Club]]. While at the Lamb's, he also met [[Lorenz Hart]], with whom he would also collaborate.<ref>{{cite news| last1=Viertel| first1=Jack| title=Encores! artistic director Jack Viertel explains how the Lerner and Lowe musical Paint Your Wagon is a fascinating anomaly from the songwriting team best known for My Fair Lady and Camelot| url=http://www.playbill.com/article/how-a-wrong-turn-at-the-lambs-club-introduced-lerner-to-loewe-and-an-anomaly-explained-com-343920| journal=[[Playbill]]| access-date=December 16, 2016| date=March 15, 2015}}</ref>

[[Lerner and Loewe]]'s first collaboration was a musical adaptation of Barry Conners's farce ''The Patsy'' called ''Life of the Party'' for a [[Detroit]] [[Stock company (acting)|stock company]]. The lyrics were mostly written by Earle Crooker, but he had left the project, with the score needing vast improvement. It enjoyed a nine-week run and encouraged the duo to join forces with [[Arthur Pierson (director)|Arthur Pierson]] for ''[[What's Up? (musical)|What's Up?]]'', which opened on Broadway in 1943. It ran for 63 performances and was followed two years later by ''[[The Day Before Spring]]''.<ref>Green, p. 239</ref>

Their first hit was ''[[Brigadoon (musical)|Brigadoon]]'' (1947), a romantic fantasy set in a mystical Scottish village, directed by [[Robert Lewis (actor)|Robert Lewis]]. It was followed in 1951 by the [[California Gold Rush|Gold Rush]] story ''[[Paint Your Wagon (musical)|Paint Your Wagon]]''. While the show ran for nearly a year and included songs that later became pop standards, such as "[[They Call the Wind Maria]]", it was less successful than Lerner's previous work. He later said of ''Paint Your Wagon'', it was "a success but not a hit."<ref>{{cite news| last1=Zink| first1=Jack| title=Folk Musical 'Wagon' Claims Quite A History Lerner And Loewe's 'Paint Your Wagon' Has Had Three Transformations In Its Lifetime. And Now What Is Considered The Best Version Is Being Presented At The Royal Palm Dinner Theatre In Boca Raton| url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1986-10-12/features/8603010966_1_wagon-paint-broadway-musicals| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220131628/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1986-10-12/features/8603010966_1_wagon-paint-broadway-musicals| url-status=dead| archive-date=December 20, 2016| newspaper=[[Sun-Sentinel]]| location=Fort Lauderdale, Florida| access-date=December 16, 2016| date=October 12, 1986}}</ref>

Lerner worked with [[Kurt Weill]] on the stage musical ''[[Love Life (musical)|Love Life]]'' (1948) and [[Burton Lane]] on the movie musical ''[[Royal Wedding]]'' (1951). In that same year Lerner also wrote the [[Academy Awards|Oscar-winning]] original [[screenplay]] for ''[[An American in Paris (film)|An American in Paris]]'', produced by [[Arthur Freed]] and directed by [[Vincente Minnelli]]. This was the same team who would later join with Lerner and Loewe to create ''[[Gigi (1958 film)|Gigi]]''.

In 1956, Lerner and Loewe unveiled ''[[My Fair Lady]]''. By this time, too, Lerner and Burton Lane were already working on a musical about [[Li'l Abner]]. [[Gabriel Pascal]] owned the rights to ''Pygmalion'', which had been unsuccessful with other composers who tried to adapt it into a musical. [[Arthur Schwartz]] and [[Howard Dietz]] first tried, and then Richard Rodgers and [[Oscar Hammerstein II]] attempted, but gave up and Hammerstein told Lerner, "''Pygmalion'' had no subplot". Lerner and Loewe's adaptation of [[George Bernard Shaw]]'s ''[[Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]]'' retained his social commentary and added appropriate songs for the characters of Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, played originally by [[Rex Harrison]] and [[Julie Andrews]]. It set box-office records in New York and London. When brought to the screen in 1964, the movie version won eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Rex Harrison.

Lerner and Loewe's run of success continued with their next project, a film adaptation of stories from [[Colette]], the Academy Award-winning film musical ''[[Gigi (1958 film)|Gigi]]'', starring [[Leslie Caron]], [[Louis Jourdan]] and [[Maurice Chevalier]]. The film won all of its nine Oscar nominations, a record at that time, and a special Oscar for co-star Maurice Chevalier.

The Lerner-Loewe partnership cracked under the stress of producing the Arthurian ''[[Camelot (musical)|Camelot]]'' in 1960, with Loewe resisting Lerner's desire to direct as well as write when original director [[Moss Hart]] suffered a heart attack in the last few months of rehearsals and died about a year after the show's Broadway premiere.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Taubman |first=Howard |date=1960-12-05 |title=Theatre: 'Camelot Partly Enchanted; Lerner-Loewe Musical Opens at Majestic |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/12/05/archives/theatre-camelot-partly-enchanted-lernerloewe-musical-opens-at.html |access-date=2023-06-14 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Youngstown Vindicator - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-SxAAAAAIBAJ&dq=palm-springs&pg=1802,1631321 |access-date=2023-06-14 |website=news.google.com}}</ref> Lerner was hospitalized with [[bleeding ulcer]]s while Loewe continued to have heart troubles. ''Camelot'' was a hit nonetheless, and immediately following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, his widow told reporter [[Theodore H. White]] that JFK's administration reminded her of the "one brief shining moment" of Lerner and Loewe's ''Camelot''. As of the early 21st century, ''Camelot'' was still invoked to describe the idealism, romance, and tragedy of the Kennedy years.<ref>{{cite news| last1=Koehler| first1=Robert| title=Stage Review: Retunn to 'Camelot ' -- Sans Inspiration| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-23-ca-2120-story.html| newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]| access-date=December 16, 2016| date=December 23, 1992}}</ref>

Loewe retired to [[Palm Springs, California]], while Lerner went through a series of musicals—some successful, some not—with such composers as [[André Previn]] (''[[Coco (musical)|Coco]]''), [[John Barry (composer)|John Barry]] (''[[Lolita, My Love]]''), Leonard Bernstein (''[[1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (musical)|1600 Pennsylvania Avenue]]''), Burton Lane (''[[Carmelina]]'') and [[Charles Strouse]] (''[[Dance a Little Closer]]'', based on the film, ''[[Idiot's Delight (film)|Idiot's Delight]]'', nicknamed ''Close A Little Faster'' by Broadway humorists because it closed on opening night). Most biographers{{who|date=July 2015}} blame Lerner's professional decline on the lack of a strong director with whom Lerner could collaborate, as [[Neil Simon]] did with [[Mike Nichols]] or [[Stephen Sondheim]] with [[Harold Prince]]. (Moss Hart, who had directed ''My Fair Lady,'' died shortly after ''Camelot'' opened.) In 1965 Lerner collaborated again with Burton Lane on the musical ''[[On a Clear Day You Can See Forever]]'', which was adapted for film in 1970. At this time, Lerner was hired by film producer [[Arthur P. Jacobs]] to write a treatment for an upcoming film project, ''[[Doctor Dolittle (film)|Doctor Dolittle]]'', but Lerner abrogated his contract after several non-productive months of non-communicative procrastination and was replaced with [[Leslie Bricusse]].<ref>{{cite book| last=Harris| first=Mark| title=Pictures at a Revolution| url=https://archive.org/details/picturesatrevolu00harr_0| url-access=registration| quote=lerner bricusse.| date=February 14, 2008| publisher=Penguin Press| pages=[https://archive.org/details/picturesatrevolu00harr_0/page/77 77]–78| isbn=978-1101202852}}</ref> Lerner was inducted into the [[Songwriters Hall of Fame]] in 1971.

In 1973, Lerner coaxed Loewe out of retirement to augment the ''Gigi'' score for a [[Gigi (musical)|musical stage adaptation]]. The following year they collaborated on a musical film version of ''[[The Little Prince (1974 film)|The Little Prince]]'', based on the classic children's tale by [[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]]. This film was a critical and box office failure, but it has gained a modern following.{{citation needed|date= August 2017}}

Lerner's autobiography, ''The Street Where I Live'' (1978), was an account of three of his and Loewe's successful collaborations, ''My Fair Lady'', ''Gigi'', and ''Camelot'', along with personal information. In the last year of his life, he published ''The Musical Theatre: A Celebration'', a well-reviewed history of the theatre, with personal anecdotes and humor. The ''Los Angeles Times'' reviewer wrote: "There are several reasons why this book makes a fine introduction to musical theater. One is that Lerner knows exactly what was new, and when and why....In "The Musical Theatre," one is privy to the judgment of a man... who expresses his opinions in a forthright, warm and personal manner."<ref>Curcio, Vincent. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-11-30-bk-107-story.html " 'The Musical Theatre: A Celebration' by Alan Jay Lerner (McGraw-Hill: $24.95; 280 pp., illustrated)"] ''Los Angeles Times'', November 30, 1986</ref> A book of Lerner's lyrics entitled ''A Hymn To Him'', edited by a British writer [[Benny Green (saxophonist)|Benny Green]], was published in 1987.

At the time of Lerner's death, he had been working with [[Gerard Kenny]] and [[Kristi Kane (libretto)|Kristi Kane]] in London on a musical version of the film ''[[My Man Godfrey]]''. He had also received an urgent call from [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]], asking him to write the lyrics to ''[[The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)|The Phantom of the Opera]]''. He wrote "[[Masquerade (The Phantom of the Opera song)|Masquerade]]", but he then informed Webber that he wanted to leave the project because he was losing his memory (he had developed metastatic lung cancer) and [[Charles Hart (lyricist)|Charles Hart]] replaced him.<ref>{{cite book| last=Furia| first=Philip| title=American Song Lyricists, 1920-1960| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MLc7AQAAIAAJ&q=Alan+Lerner| pages=322–335| year=2002| publisher=Gale| location=Detroit| isbn=978-0-7876-6009-3|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Citron| first=Stephen| title=Sondheim and Lloyd-Webber| url=https://archive.org/details/sondheimlloydweb0000citr| quote=lerner.| date=September 13, 2001| publisher=Oxford University Press US| isbn= 978-0195357271| page=[https://archive.org/details/sondheimlloydweb0000citr/page/330 330]|url-access=subscription }}</ref>  He had turned down an invitation to write the English-language lyrics for the musical version of ''[[Les Misérables (musical)|Les Misérables]]''.<ref>{{cite book| last=Behr| first=Edward| title=The Complete Book of Les Misérables| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qiCO4XZ2K6IC&q=lerner| date=January 1, 1993| publisher=Arcade Publishing| isbn=978-1559701563| page=62| access-date=August 23, 2018}}</ref>

After Lerner's death, Paul Blake made a musical revue based on Lerner's lyrics and life entitled ''Almost Like Being In Love'', which featured music by Loewe, Lane, Previn, Strouse, and Weill.<ref>{{cite news| title=Almost Like Being In Love: A Musical Revue| url=http://www.playbill.com/production/almost-like-being-in-love-coms-0000026096| journal=Playbill| access-date=23 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title=Theater Week| volume=3| issue=21| publisher=That New Magazine, Inc.| date=1990| page=8| language=en}}</ref> The show ran for 10 days at the [[Herbst Theatre]] in [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stevens |first1=Rob |title=Theatre reviews: WEST COAST STAGES. |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/962904448 |access-date=2 December 2020 |date=December 1, 1989|id={{ProQuest|962904448}} }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Almost Like Being in Love act |url=https://archive.org/stream/Issue24.13/Issue24.13_djvu.txt |access-date=2 December 2020 |issue=3 |publisher=San Francisco Bay |date=January 3, 1990|volume=24 }}</ref>

==Songwriting==
Lerner often struggled with writing his lyrics. He was uncharacteristically able to complete "[[I Could Have Danced All Night]]" from ''[[My Fair Lady]]'' in one 24-hour period. He usually spent months on each song and was constantly rewriting them. Lerner was said{{by whom|date=August 2017}} to have insecurity about his talent. He would sometimes write songs with someone in mind. For instance, he changed the rhymes in some lines of "[[I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face]]" to ones that [[Rex Harrison]] was more comfortable with.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/easytoremembergr00zins/page/231/mode/1up |title=Easy to Remember: The Great American Songwriters and Their Songs |first=William Knowlton |last=Zinsser |publisher=[[David R. Godine]] |isbn=1567921477 |pages=231–232 |date=2000 |access-date=2024-06-21 |via=Internet Archive |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Lerner said of writing:
{{Blockquote|You have to keep in mind that there is no such thing as realism or naturalism in the theater. That is a myth. If there was realism in the theater, there would never be a third act. Nothing ends that way. A man's life is made up of thousands and thousands of little pieces. In writing fiction, you select 20 or 30 of them. In a musical, you select even fewer than that.}} {{Blockquote| First, we decide where a song is needed in a play. Second, what is it going to be about? Third, we discuss the mood of the song. Fourth, I give (Loewe) a title. Then he writes the music to the title and the general feeling of the song is established. After he's written the melody, then I write the lyrics.}}

In a 1979 interview on [[NPR]]'s ''[[All Things Considered]]'', Lerner went into some depth about his lyrics for ''[[My Fair Lady]]''. Professor Henry Higgins sings, "Look at her, a prisoner of the gutters / Condemned by every syllable she utters / By right she should be taken out and hung / For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue." Lerner said he knew the lyric used incorrect grammar for the sake of a rhyme. He was later approached about it by another lyricist:
{{Blockquote|I thought, oh well, maybe nobody will notice it, but not at all. Two nights after it opened, I ran into [[Noël Coward]] in a restaurant, and he walked over and he said, "Dear boy, it is ''hanged'', not ''hung''." I said, "Oh, Noel, I know it, I know it! You know, shut up!" So, and there's another, "Than to ever let a woman in my life." It should be, "as to ever let a woman in my life," but it just didn't sing well.
}}

==Dramatists Guild==
Alan Jay Lerner was an advocate for writers' rights in theatre. He was a member of the [[Dramatists Guild of America]]. In 1960, he was elected as the twelfth president of the non-profit organization. He continued to serve as the Guild's president until 1964.

==Personal life==
For nearly twenty years, Lerner was [[Substance use disorder|addicted]] to [[amphetamines]]; during the 1960s he was a patient of [[Max Jacobson]], known as "Dr. Feelgood", who administered injections of "vitamins with enzymes" that were in fact laced with amphetamines. Lerner's addiction is believed to have been the result of Jacobson's practice.<ref>{{cite news| last=Bryk| first=William| url=http://www.nysun.com/out-and-about/dr-feelgood/20251/| title=Dr. Feelgood| newspaper=[[The New York Sun]]| date=September 20, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| author-link=Nicolas Rasmussen| last=Rasmussen| first=Nicolas| title=On Speed: The Many Lives of Amphetamine| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1mf5eEG0nRUC&q=Dexamyl%20%22purple%20heart%22&pg=PA169| publisher=New York University Press| location=New York City| date=March 1, 2008| page=169| isbn=978-0814776278}}</ref>

===Marriages and children===
Lerner married eight times: Ruth Boyd (1940–1947), singer [[Marion Bell]] (1947–1949), actress [[Nancy Olson]] (1950–1957), lawyer Micheline Muselli Pozzo di Borgo (1957–1965), editor Karen Gundersen (1966–1974), [[Sandra Payne (actress)|Sandra Payne]] (1974–1976), Nina Bushkin (1977–1981) and [[Liz Robertson]] (1981–1986 [his death]). Four of his eight wives — Olson, Payne, Bushkin, and Robertson — were actresses.<ref name=tcm/> His seventh wife, Nina Bushkin, whom he married on May 30, 1977, was the director of development at [[Mannes College of Music]] and the daughter of composer and musician [[Joey Bushkin]].<ref>"Note on People", ''The New York Times'', June 10, 1977, p. 19</ref> After their divorce in 1981, Lerner was ordered to pay her a settlement of $50,000.<ref>{{cite book| last=Lees| first=Gene| title=The musical worlds of Lerner and Loewe| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EujKPSbVOooC&q=saiger| year=2005| publisher=U of Nebraska Press| isbn=978-0803280403| page=309|url-access=subscription }}</ref>  Lerner wrote in his autobiography (as quoted by ''The New York Times''): "All I can say is that if I had no flair for marriage, I also had no flair for bachelorhood."<ref name=times>{{cite news| last=Freedman| first=Samuel| newspaper=The New York Times| title=Alan Jay Lerner, the Lyricist and Playwright, Is Dead at 67| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/15/obituaries/alan-jay-lerner-the-lyricist-and-playwright-is-dead-at-67.html| date=June 15, 1986|  page=1|url-access=subscription }}</ref>  All of this lent some irony to the lyrics for his song ''[[Get Me to the Church on Time]]''. 

Lerner had four children&nbsp;— three daughters, Susan (by Boyd), Liza, and Jennifer (by Olson), and one son, screenwriter and journalist [[Michael Alan Lerner]] (by di Borgo).

[[File:Alan J Lerner Plaque London 2016.jpg|thumb|160px|right|Lerner's memorial plaque in [[St Paul's, Covent Garden|St Paul's Church]] in London]]
Lerner's multiple divorces cost him much of his wealth. Still, he was primarily responsible for his financial ups and downs and was less than truthful about his financial fecklessness.<ref>{{cite book| last1=Brown| first1=Gordon W.| last2=Myers| first2=Scott| title=Administration of wills, trusts, and estates| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eaoKAAAAQBAJ&q=Lerner| date=February 22, 2012| publisher=Cengage Learning| isbn=978-1285401034| page=358}}</ref> It was claimed that his divorce settlement from Micheline Muselli Pozzo di Borgo (his fourth wife) cost him an estimated $1 million in 1965. This was untrue.<ref>{{cite news| title=Mrs. Lerner in Las Vegas Preparing to Ask Divorce| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/09/01/archives/mrs-lerner-in-las-vegas-preparing-to-ask-divorce.html| newspaper=The New York Times| date=September 1, 1965| page=28|url-access=subscription }}</ref>  Lerner's pattern of financial mismanagement continued until his death from cancer in 1986 when he reportedly owed the U.S. [[Internal Revenue Service]] over US$1 million {{USDCY|1e6|1986}} in back taxes and was unable to pay for his final medical expenses.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/20/arts/alan-jay-lerner-sued-by-us-for-1.4-million.html| title=Alan Jay Lerner Sued By U.S. for $1.4 Million| agency=[[Associated Press]]| newspaper=The New York Times| date=February 20, 1986|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Death==
On June 14, 1986, Lerner died of [[lung cancer]] in [[Manhattan]] at the age of 67. At the time of his death he was married to actress [[Liz Robertson]], who was 36 years his junior.<ref name=times/> He lived in [[Center Island, New York]].<ref name=LIX>{{cite web| url=https://www.longislandexchange.com/towns/centre-island/| title=Centre Island| website=Long Island Exchange| date=December 31, 2013| access-date=August 23, 2018}}</ref> He has a memorial plaque in [[St Paul's, Covent Garden|St Paul's Church]], the Actors' Church in [[Covent Garden]] in London.

==Awards and honors==

*[[American Theater Hall of Fame]] 1979<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/11/19/archives/theater-hall-of-fame-enshrines-51-artists-great-things-and-blank.html|title=Theater Hall of Fame Enshrines 51 Artists|newspaper=New York Times|date=November 19, 1979|access-date=February 7, 2019}}</ref>
*[[Kennedy Center Honors]] 1985<ref>[https://www.kennedy-center.org/pages/specialevents/honors "Honors, 1985"] kennedy-center.org, retrieved July 13, 2019</ref>

;Academy Award
*[[Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]], 1951 ''[[An American in Paris (film)|An American in Paris]]''
*[[Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]], 1958 ''[[Gigi (1958 film)|Gigi]]''
*[[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Best Original Song]], 1958 ''[[Gigi (1958 film)|Gigi]]''

;[[Golden Globes]]<ref>[https://www.goldenglobes.com/person/alan-jay-lerner "Alan Jay Lerner"] goldenglobes.com, retrieved July 13, 2019</ref>
*[[Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song|Best Original Song]], 1968 ''[[Camelot (film)|Camelot]]''
*[[Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]], 1975 ''[[The Little Prince]]''

;[[Tony Award]]<ref name=play1>[http://www.playbill.com/person/alan-jay-lerner-vault-0000000316 "Alan Jay Lerner Broadway"] playbill.com, retrieved July 13, 2019</ref>
*[[Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical|Best Book of a Musical]], 1957 ''[[My Fair Lady]]''
*[[Tony Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]], 1957 ''[[My Fair Lady]]'' and 1974 ''[[Gigi (musical)|Gigi]]''

;[[New York Drama Critics Circle]]<ref name=play1/>
*[[New York Drama Critics' Circle|Best Musical]], 1947 ''[[Brigadoon]]''
*[[New York Drama Critics' Circle|Best Musical]], 1956 ''[[My Fair Lady]]''

;Johnny Mercer Award<ref>[https://www.songhall.org/awards/1985_awards_ceremony "1985 Awards Ceremony"] songhall.org, retrieved July 13, 2019</ref>
*[[National Academy of Popular Music|Lyric Writing]], 1985, Lifetime

==Works==

===Stage===
* ''[[Life of the Party (musical)|Life of the Party]]'' (1942), with [[Frederick Loewe]]
* ''[[What's Up? (musical)|What's Up?]]'' (1943), with [[Frederick Loewe]]
* ''[[The Day Before Spring]]'' (1945), with [[Frederick Loewe]]
* ''[[Brigadoon (musical)|Brigadoon]]'' (1947), with [[Frederick Loewe]]
* ''[[Love Life (musical)|Love Life]]'' (1948), with [[Kurt Weill]]
* ''[[Paint Your Wagon (musical)|Paint Your Wagon]]'' (1951), [[Frederick Loewe]]
* ''[[My Fair Lady]]'' (1956), with [[Frederick Loewe]]
* ''[[Camelot (musical)|Camelot]]'' (1960), with [[Frederick Loewe]]
* ''[[On a Clear Day You Can See Forever]]'' (1965), with [[Burton Lane]]
* ''[[Coco (musical)|Coco]]'' (1969), with [[André Previn]]
* ''[[Lolita, My Love]]'' (1971), with [[John Barry (composer)|John Barry]]
* ''[[Gigi (musical)|Gigi]]'' (1973), based on the 1958 [[Gigi (1958 film)|film of the same name]], with [[Frederick Loewe]]
* ''[[1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (musical)|1600 Pennsylvania Avenue]]'' (1976), with [[Leonard Bernstein]]
* ''[[Carmelina]]'' (1979), with [[Burton Lane]] and [[Joseph Stein]]
* ''[[Dance a Little Closer]]'' (1983), with [[Charles Strouse]]
* ''My Man Godfrey'' (1984), unfinished, with [[Gerard Kenny]]<ref>{{cite web |first=Enid |last=Nemy |title='My Man Godfrey' Bound For Broadway |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/03/19/my-man-godfrey-bound-for-broadway/ |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=March 19, 1985 |access-date=July 13, 2019}}</ref>

===Films===
Source: TCM<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/112326%7C8980/alan-jay-lerner#filmography "Alan Jay Lerner Filmography"] tcm.com, retrieved July 13, 2019</ref>

*''[[Royal Wedding]]'', 1951 (screenwriter/lyricist)
*''[[An American in Paris (film)|An American in Paris]]'' (1951) (writer)
*''[[Brigadoon (film)|Brigadoon]]'', 1954 (film) (screenwriter/lyricist)
*''[[Gigi (1958 film)|Gigi]]'', 1958 (screenwriter/lyricist)
*''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', 1960 (lyricist)
*''[[My Fair Lady (film)|My Fair Lady]]'', 1964 (screenwriter/lyricist)
*''[[Camelot (film)|Camelot]]'', 1967 (screenwriter/lyricist)
*''[[Paint Your Wagon (film)|Paint Your Wagon]]'', 1969 (producer/screenwriter/lyricist)
*''[[On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (film)|On a Clear Day You Can See Forever]]'', 1970 (screenwriter/lyricist)
*''[[The Little Prince (1974 film)|The Little Prince]]'', 1974 (screenwriter/lyricist)
*''[[Tribute (1980 film)|Tribute]]'', 1980 ("It's All for the Best", lyricist)
*''Secret Places'', 1984 (title song lyricist)

==See also==
*[[Lerner and Loewe]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*[[Stanley Green (historian)|Green, Stanley]]. ''The world of musical comedy'' (Edition 4, 1984), Da Capo Press, {{ISBN|0-306-80207-4}}

==Further reading==
* Lerner, Alan Jay (1985). ''The Street Where I Live''.  Da Capo Press. {{ISBN|0-306-80602-9}}
* Shapiro, Doris (1989). ''We Danced All Night: My Life Behind the Scenes With Alan Jay Lerner''. Barricade Books. {{ISBN|0-942637-98-4}}
* Jablonski, Edward  (1996). ''Alan Jay Lerner: A Biography''.  Henry Holt & Co. {{ISBN|0-8050-4076-5}}
* Citron, David (1995). ''The Wordsmiths: Oscar Hammerstein 2nd and Alan Jay Lerner''.  Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-508386-5}}
* Green, Benny, Editor (1987).  ''A Hymn to Him : The Lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner''.  Hal Leonard Corporation. {{ISBN|0-87910-109-1}}
* Garebian, Keith  (1998).  ''The Making of My Fair Lady''.  Publisher: Mosaic Press.  {{ISBN|0-88962-653-7}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2014}}

==External links==
{{Archival records|title=Alan Jay Lerner papers, 1880-1997|location= [[Music Division, Library of Congress]]|description_URL=https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu016005}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Alan_Jay_Lerner.ogg|date=2020-04-03}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{iobdb name|1551}}
* {{IMDb name| 503585 }}
* {{Shof| 42 }}

{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Alan Jay Lerner
|list =
{{AcademyAwardBestOriginalScreenplay 1940-1960}}
{{AcademyAwardBestAdaptedScreenplay 1941-1960}}
{{AcademyAwardBestOriginalSong 1951–1960}}
{{Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score 1970–1989}}
{{Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song}}
{{Kennedy Center Honorees 1980s}}
{{TonyAward MusicalScore 1947–1975}}
{{Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written Musical}}
}}
{{Lerner and Loewe}}
{{My Fair Lady}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:American musical theatre librettists]]
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