Mitzie Welch

Marilyn "Mitzie" Welch was a performer, composer, lyricist and writer best known for composing music for The Carol Burnett Show.

Born Marilyn Cottle in McDonald, Pennsylvania, in 1931, she began her musical career singing with the Benny Goodman orchestra. She married Ken Welch and in 1970, the pair moved to Los Angeles.

Mitzie Welch and her husband worked as a team, composing music for The Carol Burnett Show for seven seasons. Together they also composed and served as musical directors for Barbra Streisand and Other Musical Instruments (1973), Husbands, Wives and Lovers (1978) and The NBC All Star Hour (1978).

The Welches went on to write and produce material for such talent as Ben Vereen, Linda Lavin, Bob Hope, Barry Manilow and Hal Linden. They shared 19 Emmy nominations, five of which they won.

Mitzie Welch was also an accomplished writer, having co-written the TV specials A Special Olivia Newton-John (1976), Sills and Burnett at the Met (1976), The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), Barbara Mandrell's Christmas: A Family Reunion (1986) and an episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color in 1986.

Welch's script for the TV movie Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice (1982) garnered her numerous accolades, including a Women in Film Award, the Film Advisory Board Award and a Christopher Award. The movie aired on CBS and starred Carol Burnett in the true story of the woman who founded the first recovery house for women in the U.S.

Welch died June 10, 2014, in Encino, California. She was 82.