Biography
Hoagy Carmichael (born Howard Hoagland Carmichael) was an American composer, pianist, singer and actor. Born in Bloomington, Indiana, on 22 November 1899, he studied law at Indiana University before turning to music. He died in Rancho Mirage, California, on 27 December 1981.
Carmichael appeared as an actor in fourteen films, usually playing piano or singing his own compositions. His credited roles include Cricket in To Have and Have Not (1944), Butch Engle in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Hi Linnet in Canyon Passage (1946) and Willie 'Smoke' Willoughby in Young Man with a Horn (1950). He also voiced a character in the animated series The Flintstones (1960).
He composed numerous popular standards, including 'Stardust', 'Georgia on My Mind', 'The Nearness of You' and 'Heart and Soul', and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for 'In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening' (1951).
