Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American composer of music, with over 900 songs and 43 Broadway musicals to his credit.

Rodgers was the first to win all four major annual American entertainment awards – an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (now known collectively as an EGOT).

In 1942, Rodgers teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein II marking the beginning of the most successful partnership in American musical theatre history. The team created several hits that are among the most popular in musical history: 'Carousel' (1945), 'State Fair' (1945), which brought an Oscar win in 1946 for Best Original Song for 'It Might as Well Be Spring' and 'South Pacific' which premiered in 1949 on Broadway and was an immediate hit, earning Rodgers and Hammerstein a Tony award in 1950 for Best Original Score. 'The Sound of Music' (1959), which the duo won a Grammy award in 1961 for Best Show Album was the last musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein; Hammerstein died of cancer nine months after the Broadway premiere.

Rogers and Hammerstein's musicals earned a total of 35 Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, two Grammy Awards, and two Emmy Awards.

Following Hammerstein's death in 1960, Rodgers continued to compose music, winning an Emmy in 1962 for the music for the ABC documentary 'Winston Churchill; The Valiant Years'.

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