Adolph Green

So long-running and fruitful was his partnership with Betty Comden, Adolph Green was frequently thought to be married to her, but instead, the writers-singers-actors shared a sophisticated, witty flair and friendship that earned them both pop culture immortality as writers of stage, screen and song. After starting out together in a troupe called The Revuers, Green and Comden earned a ticket to the big time with the lyrics and book for "On the Town," which they adapted into a 1949 film starring Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. Showered with awards and nominations, they wrote the screenplays for the film hits "Singin' in the Rain" (1952), "The Band Wagon" (1953), "It's Always Fair Weather" (1955), "Bells Are Ringing" (1960), which was based on their musical, and "Auntie Mame" (1958). Seven-time Tony-winners, they penned such classic Broadway hits as "Wonderful Town," "Peter Pan" and "Applause." Awarded the Kennedy Center Honors and enshrined in multiple halls of fame, Green died of natural causes on Dec. 4, 2002, but the movies, shows and music he and Comden wrote would live on forever as beloved standards whose sparkling craftsmanship revealed the pair's genius.