Ira Gershwin
Musician · 1896–1983 · New York City
Best known for
Songwriter
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist whose collaborations with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, produced “I Got Rhythm,” “Embraceable You,” “The Man I Love,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” and lyrics for Porgy and Bess — and whose post-1937 work with Kurt Weill, Jerome Kern, and Harold Arlen added “Long Ago (and Far Away)” and “The Man That Got Away.” He won the 1932 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Of Thee I Sing.
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- Born Israel Gershovitz on December 6, 1896, on New York’s Lower East Side to Russian Jewish immigrants.
- Attended the College of the City of New York; began writing light verse for newspaper columnists.
- Wrote his early Broadway lyrics under the pen name “Arthur Francis” to avoid riding his brother’s coattails.
- Made his Broadway debut with lyrics for the 1921 Vincent Youmans show Two Little Girls in Blue.
- Wrote lyrics to more than a dozen Broadway shows with brother George, including Lady, Be Good!, Funny Face, Girl Crazy, Of Thee I Sing, and the opera Porgy and Bess.
- Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1932 with George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind for Of Thee I Sing — the first musical so honored.
- After George’s 1937 death, partnered with Kurt Weill (Lady in the Dark), Jerome Kern (“Long Ago (and Far Away)”), and Harold Arlen (“The Man That Got Away,” A Star Is Born).
- Earned three Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song.
- Published the 1959 lyric-writing memoir Lyrics on Several Occasions.
- Died of heart disease in Beverly Hills, California on August 17, 1983, at age 86.
