In this day and age, 68 is quite a young age to pass away, especially for someone with financial stability and access to the world's finest medical care. But then, irony ran deep in the life of
Marvin Hamlisch.
By an exceedingly rare coincidence, the EXACT MOMENT that Hamlisch received the initial blow to his health that would plague him for decades and eventually lead to his passing was caught on videotape way back in the 1970s. This tragic instant, as the composer's lungs can actually be seen getting compromised by an attack of second-hand smoke is available for your viewing here:
Was Hamlisch a victim of the oft-referenced "Douglas Curse"? (a reference to the astonishingly high number of guests on the
Mike Douglas Show who have since died, including
Truman Capote, Richard Nixon, Moe Howard, Cesar Romero, Jackie Gleason, Anne Baxter, Jimmy Dean, Richard Pryor, Minnie Pearl, Bobby Darin, Tony Randall, Anthony Newley, Ted Knight, Harry Chapin, John Lennon and many others). There's no way to be certain one way or the other. But this much can be considered fact -- the moral of this story is a simple one:
Tom Time Waits For No Man. -- mnw
