“Goodbye” Cole Porter – Died 15 October 1964

Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter.  Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre and after a somewhat slow start, he began to achieve success in the 1920’s. By the 1930’s he was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway musical stage, writing the lyrics as well as the music for his songs.

After a horse riding accident in 1937, he was left disabled and in constant pain. His shows of the early 1940’s did not contain the lasting hits of his earlier works, but in 1948 he made a triumphant comeback with his most successful musical, Kiss Me, Kate.

Porter’s other musicals include Fifty Million Frenchmen, DuBarry Was a Lady, Anything Goes, Can-Can and Silk Stockings. His numerous hit songs include “Night and Day”, “I Get a Kick Out of You”, “Well, Did You Evah!”, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” and “You’re the Top”. He also composed scores for films from the 1930’s to the 1950’s, including Born to Dance (1936), which featured the song “You’d Be So Easy to Love”, Rosalie (1937), which featured “In the Still of the Night”; High Society (1956), which included “True Love”; and Les Girls (1957).