Biography

Mitch Leigh

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Composer, arranger and producer Mitch Leigh was a graduate of Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree and wrote many musical commercial themes. He was awarded honors from the American Television Commercial Festival and the Venice International Advertising Film Festival. He founded Music Makers, Inc. and served as its president and creative director, and also as president of Sound Makers, Inc. He contributed instrumental music to the Broadway productions "Too Good to Be True" and "Never Live Over a Pretzel Factory", and he wrote the stage score for "Man of LaMancha", for which he composed "The Impossible Dream". Joining ASCAP in 1964, his chief musical collaborator was Joe Darion.
- IMDb mini biography by: Louis Rugani

In 1957, he founded Music Makers, Inc., a radio and television commercial music publishing house, of which Leigh is artistic director. It was Music Makers, Inc., who, under Leigh's supervision, orchestrated the music for the stage production of "Man of La Mancha".
Won two 1966 Tony Awards for "Man of La Mancha": for his music as part of the Best Musical win and as Best Composer and Lyricist with collaborator Joe Darion. Nineteen years later, in 1985, he was Tony-nominated as Best Director (Musical) for a revival of "The King and I" that was Yul Brynner's farewell appearance in his signature role as the King of Siam.
He spent most of his career on Madison Avenue, writing commercial jingles for several clients, including L & M cigarettes, Ken-L Ration dog food, and the Sara Lee Corporation.
His smash hit song "The Impossible Dream", which he co-wrote with Joe Darion for the Broadway musical "Man of La Mancha", was sung on the premiere episodes of two variety shows a few months apart, the 1966 "Milton Berle Show" and the 1967 "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour". During this period, "Man of La Mancha", which had opened in 1965, was playing on Broadway and had become one of the biggest smash hits of the day.
He grew up in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. He served in the Army, and attended Yale University on the G.I. Bill, receiving bachelor's and master's degrees in music.

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