Tony-winning ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ lyricist Sheldon Harnick dead at 99

Tony winner Sheldon Harnick, best known for penning the lyrics to the musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” has died. He was 99.

Harnick’s spokesman Sean Katz confirmed that he died Friday at his Manhattan home, The New York Times reports.

The Chicago native and Army veteran moved to New York in his 20s to pursue a career in songwriting. The revue “Leonard Sillman’s New Faces of 1952″ featured Harnick’s first-ever Broadway song, “The Boston Beguine,” for which he wrote the music and lyrics.

In addition to “Fiddler,” Harnick’s famed collaborations with the late Jerry Bock began with 1958′s “The Body Beautiful,” and spanned 12 years, including productions such as “Fiorello!” — which won Harnick the Pulitzer Prize for Drama — as well as “She Loves Me” and “The Rothschilds.”

Set in a Jewish settlement of early 20th century Russia, “Fiddler on the Roof” centers on milkman Tevye’s efforts to see his daughters married and to maintain his Jewish identity in the face of intensifying anti-Semitism. With over nine Tonys and 3,200 shows, the original Broadway production, which debuted in 1964, at one point held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical. The 1971 big screen adaptation, helmed by Norman Jewison, took home three Oscars and was nominated for five more, including Best Picture.

In addition to revivals on and off-Broadway, there have been a host of international productions of the show, including multiple on London’s West End as well as in Tokyo, Tel Aviv, former West and East Germany, and, according to Broadway World, “every metropolitan city in the world from Paris to Beijing.”

Harnick’s legacy includes work as an opera translator, including for Bizet’s “Carmen” and writing opera librettos such as 2016′s “Lady Bird: First Lady of the Land,” with music written by Henry Mollicone. Previously, Harnick worked on 1973′s “Pinocchio” with Mary Rodgers, and an off-Broadway, English-language stage adaptation of “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” in 1979.

Harnick is survived by his second wife, actress-turned-photographer Margery Gray, as well as a daughter, son and four grandchildren.