Yom Kippur Tribute Planned for Marvin Hamlisch

This story first appeared in the Sept. 28 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

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EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) winner Marvin Hamlisch died Aug. 6, but his musical spirit will live on at Beverly Hills' Temple for the Arts this Yom Kippur on Sept. 26.

Richard Kagan, longtime friend and musical producer on Hamlisch's The Goodbye Girl, was asked by Rabbi David Baron to turn a Jewish High Holy Day prayer into a song in honor of the composer and prominent philanthropist.

"I wrote a solemn melody I thought Marvin would approve of," says Kagan, who's married to actress Julie Hagerty and was with Hamlisch when he was taken to the hospital. "He put those notes down for me. This music, in my mind, came from him."