Marvin Hamlisch Dies

Marvin Hamlisch, the prolific composer for film and stage, died in Los Angeles after a brief illness, a family spokesman told the Associated Press. He was 68.

No further details were immediately available.

Hamlisch became a household name in 1974, when at that April’s Oscar ceremony he took home the gold for scoring both The Sting and The Way We Were. The following year he struck gold on Broadway with the landmark musical A Chorus Line.

In all, the celebrated workaholic won three Academy Awards, four Emmys and a Tony.

“Three Oscars in my hands, and I come home and empty the cat litter,” the New York City-born composer told PEOPLE in 1992. “I had thought that success would make me happy, but it didn’t. … I had put all my eggs in the success basket, and when success went, there was nothing left.”

His rocky relationship with the lyricist Carole Bayer Sager inspired the 1979 Broadway musical They’re Playing Our Song, starring Robert Klein and Lucie Arnaz as the songwriting couple.

On her Facebook page Tuesday, Arnaz wrote: “Dear, sweet, kind, generous, hilarious, tireless, brilliant, inspired, compassionate Marvin Hamlisch. My life was always happier and fuller when he was in it.”

In 1989, he married TV news personality Terre Blair, a former Today show contributor.