Disney Music Legend Richard M. Sherman Lifeless at ninety five

Richard M. Sherman — half of the Sherman Brothers songwriting duo responsible for some of the biggest Disney hits ever — has died … according to the Walt Disney Company.

Sherman passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, the company posted on its website. The announcement cites age-related illness as the cause of death.

Richard and his brother Robert — who died of natural causes in 2012 — caught their first big break in Hollywood in 1959 when their song “Tall Paul” reached #7 on the charts.

Its success caught the attention of Walt Disney who hired them to become staff songwriters for Walt Disney Studios … where they carved at a legendary career for themselves with classics like “Jungle Book,” “The Sword in the Stone,” and “Aristocats,” “The Parent Trap” and more. They also wrote the theme song for the Disneyland ride “It’s A Small World.”

However, their most iconic film has to be “Mary Poppins,” for which Richard won two Academy Awards — Best Score and Best Original Song.