This brilliant and prolific lyricist led an interesting life before becoming a renown writer of song texts for films and recording artists. Educated at N.Y.U. and Cornell before 1935, he made his living as a seaman onboard a freighter trading between the States and China, and at another extreme he was employed as a dance instructor at the Arthur Murray Dance Studios. Moving to Hollywood, he was a frequent collaborator with Sammy Fain.
His career began in 1935 as an uncredited lyricist for Under the Pampas Moon, Dressed to Thrill, and You Only Live Once (1937); he was credited in Our Little Girl (1935), Rainbow on the River (1936), and Public Cowboy No. 1 (1937). During WWII, he authored "Me for You, Forever" for the patriotic We've Never Been Licked (aka Fighting Command and Texas to Tokyo) (1943), as well as the lighthearted Seven Sweethearts (aka Tulip Time) (1942), It Ain't Hay (aka Money for Jam) (1943), Klondike Kate (1943), and Hit the Ice (aka Oh Doctor) (1943).
His many Oscar-nominated songs included "Remember Me to Carolina" (in Minstrel Man, 1944), "Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love)" (1956), "April Love" (1957), "A Certain Smile" (1958), "A Very Precious Love" (Marjorie Morningstar, 1958), "The Green Leaves of Summer" (The Alamo, 1960), "The Falcon and the Dove (Love Theme From El Cid)" (1961), "Tender Is the Night" (1962), "Follow Me (Love Song From Mutiny on the Bounty)" (1962), "So Little Time" (55 Days at Peking, 1963), "A Time for Love" (An American Dream, 1966), and "A World That Never Was" (Half a House, 1976).
Webster won Oscars for "Secret Love" (from Calamity Jane, 1953), "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" (in the movie of the same name, 1955; also used in the film 20 Dates, 1998), and both the Oscar and a Globe award for Original Song for "The Shadow of Your Smile" (in The Sandpiper, 1965).
Webster also made important contributions to such notable films as Presenting Lily Mars and Thousands Cheer (1943); The Stork Club and Johnny Angel (1945); The Great Caruso (incl. "The Loveliest Night of the Year", 1951); The Merry Widow (1952); Timberjack ("He's Dead But He Won't Lie Down") (1955); Giant, Anastasia, and The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956); A Farewell to Arms (1957); Raintree County (1958); Rio Bravo, The Man Who Understood Women ("A Paris Valentine"), and Imitation of Life (1959); Return to Peyton Place and The Guns of Navarone (1961); Mutiny on the Bounty (1962); Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966); Far From the Madding Crowd (1967); The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968); Topaz (1969); Airport (The Winds of Chance, 1970); The Stepmother (1973); The Teacher (1974); and The Specialist and Mr. Sycamore (1975).
His television activity included the words for the Spider-Man series (1967), as well as lyrics for the theme songs of Maverick (1957) and Sugarfoot (aka Tenderfoot) (1957).
Webster also co-wrote the story for Vincent Sherman's film Nora Prentiss (1947).
