Oscar Hammerstein II Biography

Fast Facts

• Born into a show-business family; his father and uncle produced and managed Broadway productions, and his grandfather, Oscar Hammerstein I, was an opera conductor
• Briefly attended Columbia Law School before focusing on songwriting
• Collaborated with Jerome Kern to transform musical theater in 1927 with Showboat, the controversial operetta based on Edna Ferber's novel that spans almost 50 years and features an interracial romance
• In 1943, modernized Bizet's tragic opera Carmen into a highly praised all-black version titled Carmen Jones
• Successfully collaborated exclusively for 18 years with college friend Richard Rodgers during the 1940s and '50s, beginning with the form-altering musical play Oklahoma! Won a special Pulitzer Prize for Oklahoma! in 1944 and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for South Pacific in 1950
• Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970
• Was listed, with Rodgers, among the 20 most influential artists of the 20th century by Time magazine and CBS News
• Commemorated along with Rodgers on a U
• S
• postage stamp in 1999 and for Oklahoma! in 2007