For almost half a century, Dorothy Fields was one of the busiest writers on Broadway and in Hollywood. Over the years, she created an extraordinary range of work, from the book for Irving Berlin’s hit musical, Annie Get Your Gun, to the lyrics for Sweet Charity. No small part of her versatility was the extensive cast of collaborators she worked with – from her brother Herbert Fields to Sigmund Romberg, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Arthur Schwartz, Neil Simon, Jimmy McHugh, Albert Hague, Cy Coleman, and Irving Berlin.
Dorothy Fields wrote more than 400 songs for the stage and screen, ranging from “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” to “Big Spender.” And even when she was not involved with writing the songs herself, her Broadway books inspired the creation of such hits as “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”
She was nominated for an Academy Award® in 1936 for co-writing, with Jimmy McHugh and Jerome Kern, “Lovely to Look at” from the film Roberta. The following year, she won the Oscar® with Jerome Kern for the popular standard, “The Way You Look Tonight.” On Broadway, Fields earned five Tony® nominations and won two – one for the book of the 1959 musical, Redhead, the second for her lyrics in the same show.
