Johnny Marks: Difference between revisions

Marks was born in [[Mount Vernon, New York]].<ref name=htif>{{Cite web |first=Nate |last=Bloom |title=Shining a Light on the Largely Untold Story of the Origins of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer|publisher=InterfaithFamily.com|date=2011-12-20|url=http://www.interfaithfamily.com/arts_and_entertainment/popular_culture/Shining_a_Light_on_the_Largely_Untold_Story_of_the_Origins_of_Rudolph_the_Red-Nosed_Reindeer.shtml|access-date=2011-12-22}}</ref> He began writing songs when he was 13.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Freedman |first=Danny |date=December 24, 2024 |title=How ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ (and Its Writer) Went Down in History |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/arts/music/johnny-marks-rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer.html |website=The New York Times}}</ref> A graduate of [[McBurney School]] in New York, N.Y., [[Colgate University]], and [[Columbia University]], Marks later studied in Paris. He earned a [[Bronze Star Medal|Bronze Star]] and four Battle Stars as an Army Captain in the 26th Special Service Company during [[World War&nbsp;II]]. Marks had three children: Michael, Laura, and David. Marks, who was [[Jewish]],<ref>Goldberg, Jeffrey (December 20, 2008) [https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2008/12/rudolph-the-jewish-american-reindeer/9180/ "Rudolph the Jewish-American Reindeer"], ''The Atlantic''. Retrieved December 30, 2019.</ref> was the great-uncle of economist [[Steven Levitt]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/03/magazine/probability-that-real-estate-agent-cheating-you-other-riddles-modern-life.html |title=The Probability That a Real-Estate Agent Is Cheating You (and Other Riddles of Modern Life) |first=Stephen J. |last=Dubner |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 3, 2003}}</ref>

Among Marks's many works is "[[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (song)|Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer]]", which was based on a [[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer|poem of the same name]] by Marks's brother-in-law, [[Robert L. May]], Rudolph's creator. A [[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV special)|television film]] based on the story and song first aired in 1964, with Marks composing the score. He felt pigeonholed by the success of the song; he felt that his best song was "[[I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day]]“, which set the [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] 1864 poem "Christmas Bells" to music. <ref name=":0" />