Walter Marks (born January 15, 1934, in New York) is an American songwriter, playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is probably best known for his song "

I've Gotta Be Me "I've Gotta Be Me" is a popular song that appeared in the Broadway musical '' Golden Rainbow'', which starred Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé. It opened in New York City at the Shubert Theatre on February 4, 1968, and closed just under a year l ...

", recorded by Sammy Davis Jr, Tony Bennett, Michael Jackson and many others. He has also written songs recorded by Barbra Streisand, The Temptations, Della Reese, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, and other artists.

Career

He wrote the songs for the Broadway musicals ''Bajour'' and ''Golden Rainbow'', the book, music and lyrics for the off-Broadway musical ''Body Shop'', the screenplay and songs for the motion picture ''The Wild Party'' (Merchant-Ivory Films – directed by James Ivory). He also wrote the off-Broadway comedy-mystery ''The Butler Did It''. On television, he won an Emmy award for his music on the PBS Series ''Getting On'', and wrote songs for the ABC series ''That’s Life'', and the NBC Hallmark Hall of Fame production of ''Pinocchio''. His musical ''Langston in Harlem'' was produced in New York City at Urban Stages in April 2010. The show won 4 Audelco/Vivian Robinson Awards for Excellence in Black Theater, including best musical. His other current theatre projects are ''Dig Lenny Bruce'', a musical about the controversial comedian, and ''Black Jack'', a show about Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion of the world. Most recently, ''Accentuate the Positive'', a show integrating the songs of Johnny Mercer into a book musical, for which Marks has written the libretto. Walter Marks’ first novel, ''Dangerous Behavior'', a psychological thriller, was published in 2002 in hardcover by Carroll & Graf. The film rights were purchased by Paramount Pictures. His second book, a crime/thriller ''Death Hampton'', will be launched in June 2014 (Top Tier Publishers) on Amazon (print) and Kindle. The sequel ''The Battle of Jericho'' was expected to follow later in 2014. In addition, he has produced and written the musical score for a feature-length documentary film on Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, which is directed by his wife, prizewinning documentary filmmaker, Joan Brooker-Marks. He lives in Manhattan and East Hampton.

Works

;Broadway theatre * ''

Bajour Bajaur District ( ps, باجوړ ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, then during restructuring that merged ...

'' (1964); music and lyrics * '' Golden Rainbow'' (1968); music and lyrics * ''Broadway Follies'' (1981); music and lyrics ; Other musical theatre * ''Go Fly a Kite'' (1966); music and lyrics; music and lyrics also by

John Kander John Harold Kander (born March 18, 1927) is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb (with lyricist Fred Ebb), Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including ''Ca ...

and

Fred Ebb Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004) was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Ri ...

; written for

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

's 5th Electric Utility Executives Conference in

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula ...

Go Fly a Kite
Retrieved December 26, 2010. * ''Body Shop'' (1994);

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

; book, music and lyrics ; Novels * ''Dangerous Behavior'' (2002) * ''Death Hampton'' (2014) ;Filmography * ''

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

'' (1968) * ''Here Comes the Judge'' (1972); TV movie * '' The Wild Party'' (1975) * ''Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone'' (2007); documentary * ''The Silent Truth'' (2010); documentary

References

External links

*
Walter Marks
at the Internet Off Broadway Database * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marks, Walter 1934 births Living people American musical theatre composers American musical theatre lyricists American film score composers

Career

Works

See also

References

External links