With composer-brother George, formed one of America's most prestigious songwriting teams of the 1920s and 30s. Early Broadway classics include Strike Up The Band (1927) and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Of Thee I Sing (1932). The brothers had several of their stage hits adapted for film and composed original scores for such movies as SHALL WE DANCE (1937) and A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS (1937). (Their first work directly for the screen came in 1931 with DELICIOUS.) After George's death in 1937 Ira continued to write for stage and screen, teaming up with such luminaries as Kurt Weill, Aaron Copland and Jerome Kern. Notable song credits during this period include lyrics used in STRIKE UP THE BAND (1940), LADY BE GOOD (1941), PRINCESS O'ROURKE, THE NORTH STAR and GIRL CRAZY (all 1943), LADY IN THE DARK and COVER GIRL (both 1944), ZIEGFELD FOLLIES (1946), THE SHOCKING MISS PILGRIM (1947), THE BARKELYS OF BROADWAY (1949), A STAR IS BORN and THE COUNTRY GIRL (both 1954) and FUNNY FACE (1957). Gershwin served as best man at the 1945 wedding of Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland. Minnelli and Garland named their daughter Liza after Gershwin's song "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)." He was mentor to singer Michael Finestein.  Nominated for Music Best Song 1937: SHALL WE DANCE "They Can't Take That Away from Me" -- Lyric  Nominated for Music Best Song 1944: COVER GIRL "Long Ago and Far Away"-- Lyric  Nominated for Music Best Song 1954: A STAR IS BORN "The Man That Got Away"-- Lyric 3 nominations