Livingston, Jay Harold

▪ 2002

      American songwriter (b. March 28, 1915, McDonald, Pa.—d. Oct. 17, 2001, Los Angeles, Calif.), in collaboration with Ray Evans, created songs for some 80 motion pictures, including three songs that won Academy Awards—“Buttons and Bows” from the Bob Hope western comedy The Paleface (1948); “Mona Lisa” from Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950) and later made famous by Nat (“King”) Cole; and “Que Sera, Sera,” sung by Doris Day in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). Among their numerous other popular movie songs was “Silver Bells” from another Hope feature, The Lemon Drop Kid (1951); it became a Christmas standard and sold over 140 million records. The team also wrote television theme music for such shows as Bonanza and Mr. Ed, and it was Livingston's voice that was heard singing the latter.

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