Biography

Howard Ashman

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Born
May 17, 1950 · Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Died
March 14, 1991 · St. Vincent's Hospital, Harrison, New York, USA (AIDS-related complications)
Birth name
Howard Elliot Ashman
Height
6′ 1″ (1.85 m)

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Howard Ashman moved to New York City in 1974 and began writing plays while working as an editor in a publishing house. His work attracted attention and he became WPA Theatre's artist director in 1977. In 1982, Ashman collaborated with composer Alan Menken on the musical "Little Shop of Horrors", one of off-Broadway's highest-grossing musicals. The team of Ashman and Menken shifted their focus to movies, creating some of the songs for The Little Mermaid (1989). One of them, "Under the Sea", won an Oscar in 1989 for best song. Ashman then wrote the lyrics for the songs in the Disney animated musical hit Beauty and the Beast (1991), and he and Menken won another Oscar for the title song. However, two days after he won an Oscar for "Under the Sea" Ashman confided in Menken that he had AIDS. Despite the terminal illness that was making him weaker every day, Ashman never stopped composing songs. He even turned out more songs for a third Disney animated musical, Aladdin (1992), before his death from AIDS on March 14, 1991, at the age of 40.
- IMDb mini biography by: A. Nonymous

Beauty and the Beast (1991) includes a dedication to Ashman in its end credits: "To our friend Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul. We will be forever grateful.".
His headstone reads "O that he would have but one more song to sing"
When Aladdin (1992) was adapted into a Broadway musical, Howard Ashman was nominated for a 2014 Tony Award for Best Original Score--more than two decades after his death--for the songs he had written for the movie.
Ashman was the first AIDS victim to receive a posthumous Oscar. He won for the title song to Beauty and the Beast (1991) and the award was accepted by his partner Bill Lauch.
The team of Lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken ended with Howard's death at age 40. The team received an Oscar for the song "Under The Sea" from The Little Mermaid (1989).

You've got all these classics. You know, Pinocchio (1940), Sleeping Beauty (1959), Cinderella (1950) and to make something that fits comfortably on the shelf with all those? What a difficult thing to do but it's such a great thing to try to do.

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