SOUTHLAND : Composer Sammy Fain Dies

Composer Sammy Fain, a two-time Academy Award winner who wrote such songs as “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing,” “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and “That Old Feeling,” died today. He was 87.

Fain, who suffered a heart attack, was at UCLA Medical Center when he died, said Ken Sunshine, a publicist for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

During a career that stretched from New York’s Tin Pan Alley to Broadway and Hollywood, Fain wrote some of the most enduring pop hits of American music this century.

Many Fain titles bring instant tune recognition: “Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella,” “Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine” and “Tender Is the Night” among them.

Fain won his Academy Awards for best song, in the title of the 1955 film “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing,” and in 1953 for “Secret Love” from the Doris Day film “Calamity Jane.” Fain was nominated for Oscars nine times during his career.