James Hammerstein had one child (Oscar Andrew) with his first wife Basia, two children (Will and Jennifer) with his second wife Millette Alexander and one child (Simon) with his third wife Dena (Geraldine Sherman). He died in Manhattan after suffering a heart attack. James Hammerstein Hammerstein was the son of Oscar Hammerstein II, and his Australian-born second wife, Dorothy Kiaora Blanchard. He had four half-siblings, two through each of his parents' earlier marriages: William and Alice Hammerstein, and Henry and Susan Jacobson. The best known of these was Susan, whose husbands included Henry Fonda and Richard Widmark. Hammerstein attended George School in
Oscar Hammerstein II Jerome Kern had written "Ol' Man River." "Indeed not," she retorted. "Jerome Kern wrote 'dum, dum, dum-dum.' My husband wrote 'Ol' Man River'." Other Kern-Hammerstein musicals include "Sweet Adeline", "Music in the Air", "Three Sisters", and "Very Warm for May". Hammerstein also collaborated with Vincent Youmans ("Wildflower"), Rudolf Friml ("Rose-Marie"), and Sigmund Romberg ("The Desert Song" and "The New Moon"). Hammerstein's most successful and sustained collaboration began when he teamed up with Richard Rodgers to write a musical adaptation of the play "Green Grow the Lilacs". Rodgers' first partner, Lorenz Hart, originally planned to collaborate with Rodgers on this piece,