Marvin Laird, Broadway and Film Composer and Musical Director for Bernadette Peters, Dies at 85

Ameneh Javidy5 December 2024Last Updated: 10 May 2025

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Marvin Laird, who composed music for Broadway and the big screen and served as Bernadette Peters’ musical director for many years, has died. He was 85.

Laird died Monday of natural causes in Redding, Connecticut, a family spokesperson announced.

Marvin conducted for such hit Broadway revivals as 1999-2001’s Annie Get Your Gun, 2003-04’s Gypsy and 2011-12’s Follies, all starring Peters. He also worked with the famed performer in 2009 for a concert benefiting her charity, Broadway Barks.

“My beloved Marvin had impeccable style and a delicious sense of humor, and his generous spirit has made everyone he worked with fall in love with him,” the two-time Tony winner said in a statement. “I was a major beneficiary of Marvin’s genius and generosity of support and love.”

He conducted concerts for her as well as for Joel Grey, Diana Ross, Cass Elliot, Dusty Springfield and Goldie Hawn.

Laird wrote music and/or arrangements for such films as Gene Kelly’s Hello, Dolly! (1969), starring Barbra Streisand; Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York (1977), starring Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro; and Robert Altman’s The Company (2003), starring Neve Campbell; and for the ballet Smile With My Heart.

He scored TV shows including Maude, Quincy, M.E., Dynasty and The Love Boat and composed the score for 1992’s Ruthless! The Musical, which continues to find new audiences today.

Born on Oct. 26, 1939, in Kansas City, Kansas, Laird got his start on Broadway in 1964 as a musical assistant on Ben Franklin in Paris, directed and choreographed by Michael Kidd and starring Robert Preston. It was the first of his 12 career assignments on the Great White Way.

Survivors include Joel Paley, his “partner in marriage and co-pilot for 48 years”; his brother, Larry; his sister-in-law, Jeanne; and his nieces, Lana and Lynnette.

Source: Hollywoodreporter