Composer Richard Sherman performs at The Los Angeles Children's Chorus' Annual Gala in 2015. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images hide caption Composer Richard Sherman performs at The Los Angeles Children's Chorus' Annual Gala in 2015.
Richard Sherman, the Academy Award-winning composer who was part of a songwriting team with his late brother, Robert , has died due to age-related illness at 95. The Sherman brothers wrote the scores for two dozen films, many for Disney — among them, Mary Poppins (for which they won two Oscars), The Jungle Book and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang . Born in New York on June 12, 1928, he and his family moved to Beverly Hills, Calif.
, when Sherman was 9. His father, Al, was a popular songwriter and challenged Richard and his older brother to write together, Sherman remembered in 2005. "He sensed that Bob and I collaborating and pooling our wits could come up with something.
" They had a top 10 hit in 1958, "Tall Paul," with Annette Funicello, which brought them to the attention of Walt Disney. Through the 1960s and into the 1980s, they were, in effect, Disney's house songwriters — beginning with The Parent Trap , in 1961. They wrote many film scores and even theme park songs for the company, such as "It's a Small World (After All).
" But it was the score for Mary Poppins , starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, that cemented their reputation. Filled with standards such as "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
