Clark Gesner

Clark Gesner
Gesner (center, with flower) with director Joseph Hardy and the original 1967 cast of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
Background information
Born	(1938-03-02)March 2, 1938 Augusta, Maine, United States
Died	July 23, 2002(2002-07-23) (aged 64) New York City, New York, United States
Occupation(s)	Composer, author, actor
Associated acts	Joe Raposo

Clark Gesner (born March 2, 1938, in Augusta, Maine, died July 23, 2002, in downtown New York City) was an American composer, songwriter, author, and actor. He is probably best known for composing You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, a musical adaptation of the Charles M. Schulz comic strip Peanuts.

None of his other musicals (most notably The Utter Glory of Morrissey Hall in 1979) had been able to match the success of ...Charlie Brown, though he had small success in regional productions (mostly Animal Fair in 1990).

Gesner's song "Happiness" became a hit standard in the 1960s, being recorded by various artists. The latter was also recorded in a smooth jazz version by David Benoit in May 2000, shortly after Charles M. Schulz' death, on an album entitled Here's To You, Charlie Brown: 50 Great Years!. The album made it to #2 on the Top Jazz Albums chart.

Born and raised in Augusta, Maine, and later moving to Brooklyn, New York, Gesner was born to H. Mortimer Gesner Jr., and Eleanor Clark Gesner. He attended high school in Plainfield, New Jersey where he wrote and performed in theatre productions. Gesner attended Princeton University and was a member of the Triangle Club, the university's theatre group. There, he began writing and producing original musical comedies. Following his graduation from Princeton, Gesner kept close ties to his alma mater, serving as a member of the graduate board of the Triangle Club, and regularly patronizing performances by other groups on the Princeton campus, such as the Princeton University Players and Theatre Intime.