Richard Charles Rodgers (1902-1972), American composer, wrote the music for over 50 stage and film musicals and helped make the American musical a legitimate art form.

When Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and Dorothy Fields collaborated in 1925 on Dearest Enemy, "an American musical play" (as they called it), contributing respectively music, lyrics, and book, something new was added to the theatrical scene. Not only was the material original, charming, and witty, but the form and subject of the entertainment were distinctly unusual. Here was a play based on American history with unpredictable and pertinent musical sections. Rodgers and his lyricists, Hart and, later, Oscar Hammerstein II, were to repeat this sort of innovation on several occasions. Each occasion marked an important contribution to a more original, indigenous popular musical theater in the United States.

Richard Charles Rodgers was born near Arverne, Long Island, New York, on June 28, 1902. His father was...