Biography

Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in Hollywood films. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, Porter defied his grandfather's wishes for him to practice law and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn to musical theatre. After a slow start, he began to achieve success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s, was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway stage. Unlike many successful Broadway composers, Porter wrote both music and lyrics. After a serious horseback riding accident in 1937, Porter was left disabled and in constant pain, but he continued to work. His shows of the early 1940s did not contain the lasting hits of his best work of the 1920s and 1930s, but in 1948 he made a triumphant comeback with his most successful musical, Kiss Me, Kate. It won the first Tony Award for Best Musical. Porter's other musicals include Fifty Million Frenchmen, DuBarry Was a Lady, Anything Goes, Can-Can and Silk Stockings. Hit songs include "Night and Day", "Begin the Beguine", "I Get a Kick Out of You", "Well, Did You Evah!", "I've Got You Under My Skin", "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love", "My Heart Belongs to Daddy", and "You're the Top". He also composed scores for films from the 1930s through the 1950s, including Born to Dance (1936), which features "You'd Be So Easy to Love"; Rosalie (1937), which features "In the Still of the Night"; High Society (1956), which features "True Love"; and Les Girls (1957), which features "Ça, C'est L'amour".