Margaret Styne, Wife of Deceased Broadway Composer Jule Styne, Passes Away
The wife of Broadway composer Jule Styne was the trustee of his estate until her death, which was announced Friday.
By: Marissa Tomeo Feb. 20, 2022
According to a Deadline article, Margaret Styne, the widow of Broadway composer Jule Styne, has died. The news was announced on February 15th in a Facebook post from Jule Styne, Inc, but was tweeted by the upcoming Broadway revival of Funny Girl's account in the early afternoon of February 18th, 2022. In a joint statement from producers Sonia Friedman, Scott Landis, and David Banani, as well as director Michael Mayer, the post, tweeted at 11:54am on Friday, reads, "Rest in peace, Margaret Styne. Over the years, Margaret Styne has always been a passionate, advocate, supporter, and colleague to all of us working on Funny Girl."
The tweet continues, stating, "She was a force of nature, a brilliant storyteller in her own right and represented her husband Jule Styne's genius legacy with creativity and imagination. We'll miss her dearly, but her spirit will be imbued in our Broadway production of Funny Girl."
Styne, from Torquay, England, modeled and acted beginning in 1953. According to a 2006 interview, Margaret Styne met her husband when she was on a blind date with Broadway lyricist Bob Merrill. However, she met her future life partner at that dinner, Jule Styne, Merrill's songwriting collaborator, and married within weeks. They remained married for 32 years, until Jule died in September, 1994.
Deadline states that Margaret Styne took control of her husband's estate when he passed. The Styne, Inc. Facebook Page states, "She took great pride in her new position and was a great advocate for Jule's music establishing a new focus on the preservation of his musical legacy as well as overseeing several revivals of his shows both off and on Broadway." The post also makes sure to mention that Margaret's favorite songs by Jule were 'The Ballet of the Red Shoes' and 'I, Yes Me, That's Who'.
The former model and starlet was also an internationally recognized artist whose work is in the collections of Bryn Mawr College, Brandeis University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, IBM Corporation, Banana Republic, and the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park (Lincoln, MA).
Jule Styne had ten songs nominated for Oscars over the course of his extensive career. Some of his most notable composition credits include the scores for Hallelujah, Baby!, Gentleman Prefer Blondes, Peter Pan (addition music), Gypsy, Do Re Mi, and Funny Girl. He was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors (1990) and is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame, as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Photo Credit: Walter McBride
Pictured: Kelli O'Hara with Margaret Styne
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