NEW YORK: Composer MARVIN HAMLISCH, who earned critical acclaim and popularity for a prolific output of dozens of motion-picture scores and shows including A Chorus Line, The Way We Were and The Sting has died in Los Angeles. He was 68.

Hamlisch collapsed after a brief illness and died on Monday, a family spokesman said.

The composer and conductor was the creative force behind more than 40 film scores, including original compositions and musical adaptations such as his arrangement of ragtime composer SCOTT JOPLIN's The Entertainer in the 1973 film The Sting.

He won two Oscars for best score and best song for The Way We Were, also released in 1973, which starred ROBERT REDFORD and BARBRA STREISAND. Hamlisch first worked with Streisand as a rehearsal pianist for Funny Girl.

His other film scores included Sophie's Choice, Ordinary People, The Swimmer, Three Men and a Baby, Ice Castles, Take the Money and Run and Bananas. His latest effort was for a film based on the life of pianist LIBERACE.

On Broadway, he won a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize for the 1975 musical A Chorus Line, which at the time became the most successful show on the Great White Way. He had been working on a new Broadway musical called Gotta Dance. Hamlisch earned the rare distinction of winning Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.