Profile of Hoagy Carmichael on Famous Like Me

Hoagland Howard "Hoagy" Carmichael (November 22, 1899–December 27, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust" (1927), which has been called the most-recorded American song ever written.

Carmichael was born in Bloomington, Indiana. He attended Indiana University at Bloomington. He originally studied law while playing music on the side, but he eventually decided to devote his energies to music. Carmichael maintained a lifelong affiliation with the university; in 1937 he wrote the song "Chimes of Indiana" which was presented to the school as a gift by the class of 1935. It was made Indiana University's official alma mater in 1978. Carmichael also holds the distinction of being awarded an honorary doctorate in music by the Indiana University in 1972.

Carmichael joined ASCAP in 1931. Aside from "Stardust", he wrote "Riverboat Shuffle", "Rockin' Chair", "Washboard Blues", "Heart & Soul", "New Orleans", and "Georgia on My Mind"; he also collaborated with Sidney Arodin on the standard "Up a Lazy River". Carmichael was one of the first ten songwriters inducted into the USA's Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1969.

Hoagy Carmichael appeared as an actor in at least 14 motion pictures (most notably the Humphrey Bogart-Lauren Bacall classic To Have and Have Not, and Young Man with a Horn), often singing and playing the piano on his own compositions. Carmichael wrote two autobiographies: The Stardust Road (1946) and Sometimes I Wonder (1965).

He died of a heart attack in Rancho Mirage, California. He is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Bloomington.

Author Ian Fleming once said that he envisioned British secret agent James Bond as looking like Carmichael.

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