Carolyn Leigh (b. New York, NY, 21 August 1926; d. New York, 19 November 1983) was a copy writer for radio stations and advertisers before she started writing lyrics for Broadway. She is undoubtedly best known as the main lyricist for Peter Pan in 1953, with music by Moose Charlap. In 1960, she teamed up with Cy Coleman to write Wildcat, a musical that starred Lucille Ball. Coleman and Leigh worked again together on the musical, Little Me, in 1962, with a book by Neil Simon and Sid Caesar in the starring role. Coleman and Leigh earned two Tony® nominations for the show, including best musical and best score.
Carolyn Leigh’s last work on Broadway was How Now, Dow Jones, starring Anthony Roberts and Barbara Vacarro.In that production, she partnered with the legendary Hollywood film composer, Elmer Bernstein. The 1968 musical was nominated for six Tonys®.
Outside of musical theater, the team of Leigh and Coleman wrote such classic pop standards as “Witchcraft” and “The Best Is Yet to Come.” She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985.
Photo courtesy of Photofest
