Born 101 Years Ago Today in New Jersey, the Three-Time Oscar-Nominated Songwriter Who Wrote for Frank Sinatra and Found Her Voice After Heartbreak

On this day (October 22) in 1925, acclaimed lyricist Dory Previn was born in New Jersey. Alongside second husband Andre Previn, she got her start writing for film soundtracks during the 1960s and early 1970s. They garnered three Academy Award nominations and scored a pop hit for Dionne Warwick with the theme song to the 1967 film “Valley of the Dolls”.

Following a very public divorce in 1970, Dory Previn pivoted to a singer-songwriter career. Releasing six albums between 1970 and 1976, she drew on her difficult childhood, romantic betrayal, and mental health battles to craft wholly original, brutally candid lyrics.

Emerging from the same period as confessional singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Carole King, Previn never gained their widespread name recognition. Still, she built up a dedicated cult following and left an indelible mark on contemporary singer-songwriters such as Sinead O’Connor and Suzanne Vega.

As New York Times music critic Don Heckman once put it, “Ms. Previn is no great singer, her guitar playing is only adequate, and her melodies sometimes have an uncomfortable tendency to move in too-familiar directions. But her message is stated so brilliantly in her lyrics, and the tales she has to tell are so important, that they make occasional musical inadequacies fade away.”

On February 14, 2012, Dory Previn, 86, died at her farm in Southfield, Massachusetts. Today, we honor her oft-forgotten legacy on what would have been her 101st birthday.

Dory Previn’s Troubled Upbringing

Born Dorothy Veronica Langan, she grew up the eldest daughter of a strict Irish Catholic family in Woodbridge, New Jersey. And it’s impossible to talk about Dory Previn’s life and career without first talking about her father, Michael.

Exposed to chemical warfare while serving in World War I, Michael frequently battled depression and violent mood swings.

During a particularly intense paranoid episode, he boarded up the family in their home and held them at gunpoint for several months.

Making Her Name in the Entertainment Industry

Briefly attending New York City’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Dory Previn toured as a chorus-line dancer and singer while also writing songs.

In the 1950s, she headed to Hollywood. There, she gained the attention of MGM producer Arthur Freed. He was known for his work on musicals like “An American in Paris” and “Singin’ in the Rain”.

Freed hired Previn as a lyricist for MGM, where she met composer and pianist Andre Previn. The two struck up a fruitful songwriting partnership before marrying in 1959.

Together, they earned their first Oscar nomination for “The Faraway Part Of Town” — sung by Judy Garland in the 1960 musical film “Pepe”. The second came two years later with “A Second Chance”, from the 1962 film “Two for the Seesaw”, starring Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine.

The pair also wrote songs recorded by Rosemary Clooney, Sammy Davis Jr., Doris Day, Nancy Wilson, and more.

Apart from her husband, Dory Previn also scored a third Oscar nomination for “Come Saturday Morning”. The song featured in the 1969 film “A Sterile Cuckoo” starring Liza Minnelli.

The Fallout From Her Divorce and Pivot to Singer-Songwriter

The same year Dory Previn nabbed her third Oscar nomination, she also discovered that her husband was having an affair with actress Mia Farrow.

They divorced in July 1970, and Andre married Farrow two months later. Reeling from the betrayal, Previn suffered a mental breakdown that led to her hospitalization.

After receiving electroshock therapy, she turned her songwriting inward. In 1970, Previn signed as a solo artist with Mediarts Records and released her first album, On My Way to Where.

“I’d been writing for films for several years, but nothing I could say in those theme songs had not been said better by many songwriters before me; and gloriously by poets,” Previn said in a 1973 interview. “So what did I do? Did I want to go on and write more poetic lyrical metaphors on things already said? Or did I want to write about the one thing I can only presume to be an authority on: myself?”

Previn refused to fly and rarely performed live, which somewhat hindered her commercial success. Still, her sophomore album, 1971’s Mythical Kings and Iguanas, managed to sell 50,000 copies. And on April 18, 1973, she performed a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York. It was recorded and released later that year as a double LP, Live at Carnegie Hall.

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In the late 1970s, she crossed the ocean on the Queen Elizabeth 2 to tour in Europe, still unable to shake her fear of flying.

Previn got remarried to actor and painter Joby Baker in 1984. She continued writing through the 2000s.

Featured image by Gus Stewart/Getty Images