<br><br>Richard Charles Rogers (English Richard Charles Rodgers; June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) is an American composer who has written music for more than nine hundred songs and forty Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. Best known for co-writing with songwriters Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. His music has had a significant impact on the musical culture of the United States.<br><br>Rogers is the first recipient of all four awards for cinema and music, known collectively EGOT (eng. EGOT): „Emmy”, „Grammy”, „Oscar”, „Tony”, and one of two people (the second – Marvin Hamlisch), received in addition to them and the Pulitzer Prize.<br>Biographyearly years<br>Richard Rogers was born into a wealthy Jewish family in New York City. He started the piano at the age of 6. Rogers, like Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II, graduated from Columbia University. Rogers’ work was greatly influenced by the work of Victor Herbert, Jerome Kern, as well as the operettas to which his parents took him as a child.<br>Rogers and Hart<br>In 1919, met Lorenz Hart. Together they wrote several amateur musical comedies. Their professional debut was „Any Old Place With You,” which appeared in the Broadway musical A Lonely Romeo. Their first professional work was Poor Little Ritz Girl in 1920. Their next professional musical, The Melody Man, was only staged in 1924.<br><br>Rogers was on the edge and was ready to retire from show business when his first success overtook. In 1925, their musical „The Garrick Gaieties” was staged, which was well received by critics and featured such a hit as the song „Manhattan”. Over the remainder of the decade, they created several Broadway and West End musicals such as Dearest Enemy (1925), The Girl Friend (1926), Peggy-Ann (1926), A Connecticut Yankee (1927 ), and Present Arms (1928).<br><br>During the Great Depression, Rogers and Hart worked in Hollywood. They wrote songs for the movie „Love Me Tonight”, which featured songs like „Lover”, „Mimi” and „Isn’t It Romantic?” They also wrote songs for the films The Phantom President (1932), Hallelujah, I’m a Bum (1933), Mississippi (1935).<br><br>In 1935, they returned to Broadway, where they created a string of popular musicals, interrupted only by Hart’s death in 1943. The most famous ones can be called “Jumbo” (1935), “On Your Toes” (1936), “Babes In Arms” (1937), “I Married an Angel” (1938), “The Boys From Syracuse” (1938), Pal Joey (1940) and their last work, By Jupiter (1942).<br>Rogers and Hammerstein<br>Due to Hart’s health problems, Rogers was forced to look for another songwriter. It was Oscar Hammerstein II, with whom he had already written several songs. Their first musical, „Oklahoma!”, Was a huge success. Many songs from this musical („Oh, What a Beautiful Morning”, „People Will Say We’re in Love”) became hits, the title song became the national anthem of Oklahoma. The musical also won a .<br><br>After that, they created four more famous musicals, on which they filmed: Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949, Pulitzer Prize), The King and I (1951) and The Sound of Music (1959). They also created songs for the movie State Fair (1945).<br><br>In total, Rogers and Hammerstein’s musicals have received 35 Tony, 15 Oscars, 2 Pulitzer Prizes, 2 Grammy, 2 Emmy.<br>