Steve Lawrence, an actor, comedian, and crooner from the 1950s and 1960s who formed the pair Steve and Eydie with his wife Eydie Gormé, passed away at the age of 88.
A family representative for Lawrence told Variety that the actor passed away at his Los Angeles home on Thursday due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. Lawrence was forced to stop touring after receiving the diagnosis in 2019.
Born in the Brooklyn neighborhood of New York City, Lawrence was given the name Sidney Liebowitz by his Jewish parents. Max, his father, was a cantor at the Beth Sholom Tomchei Harav synagogue in Brooklyn.
Helen, his mother, was a housewife. Thomas Jefferson High School was his alma mater. Lawrence sang for composers at the Brill Building after school throughout his high school years to earn some cash.
On December 29, 1957, Lawrence and Gormé tied the knot in the El Rancho Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1954, Steve and Eydie made their Tonight Starring Steve Allen debuts together as regulars. They performed together until 2009, when Gormé retired.
The couple had two boys together: Michael Robert Lawrence (1962–1986), who passed away unexpectedly at the age of 23 from ventricular fibrillation brought on by an undetected cardiac ailment, and David Nessim Lawrence (1960–), an ASCAP Award–winning composer who wrote the score for High School Musical.
Despite a prior diagnosis of mild arrhythmia, Michael appeared to be in good health at the time of his death. He worked as an assistant editor for a television program.
Gormé and Lawrence took a year off after the death of their kid before going on tour once more. On August 10, 2013, Eydie Gormé passed away at the age of 84 following a brief, private illness.
