Hoagy Carmichael

Hoagy Carmichael was an American songwriter, musician and actor, and a successful Tin Pan Alley songwriter. Born in Bloomington, Indiana, he was largely self-taught and began playing professionally while at Indiana University. He composed several hundred songs, including Stardust, Georgia on My Mind and Heart and Soul, and worked often with lyricist Johnny Mercer on hits such as Lazybones and Skylark. Hollywood drew him into character roles, beginning with Topper (1937); he appeared in To Have and Have Not (1944), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and Canyon Passage (1946), and every one of his 14 films included a performance of his own music. For Canyon Passage he wrote Ole Buttermilk Sky, an Academy Award nominee, and In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening won the best song Oscar in 1951. He also hosted radio variety programs, appeared on the television western Laramie, and wrote two memoirs. He entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.