Movie songwriter Joel Hirschhorn, 67
Posted: Wednesday, September 21st, 2005 11:10 pm
LOS ANGELES — Joel Hirschhorn, the songwriter who shared Academy Awards for theme songs in two catastrophe-oriented motion pictures, “The Poseidon Adventure” and “The Towering Inferno,” has died. He was 67.
Mr. Hirschhorn, who lived in Agoura Hills, northwest of Los Angeles, died early Sunday, apparently of a heart attack, at Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks, his wife, Jennifer Carter Hirschhorn, a documentary producer, said Monday. She said Mr. Hirschhorn had fallen Friday night and had broken his shoulder.
His songs, recorded by artists including Elvis Presley, have sold more than 90 million records, and his music was used for a score of motion pictures.
Along with a longtime collaborator, Al Kasha, Mr. Hirschhorn earned his first Oscar in 1973 for “The Morning After,” from “Poseidon,” a movie about a luxury cruise ship capsized by a huge wave.
The duo received a second statuette two years later for their song “We May Never Love Like This Again” from “The Towering Inferno,” a film about a fire in a high-rise building. … Read full obituary
