Broadway composer Jerry Herman, writer of Hello, Dolly! and Mame, dies at 88

Jerry Herman, the Broadway composer behind musicals Hello, Dolly!, Mame and La Cage aux Folles, has died aged 88, it has been announced.

Mr Herman died on Thursday at his home in Miami pulmonary complications, his goddaughter told Associated Press. 

The composer was raised by Jewish parents and said he was inspired to write for musicals by Irving Berlin.

He described seeing Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun. "I walked out of that theatre singing all those wonderful Berlin songs and, from that moment on, that’s all I wanted to do with my life,” he said in an 1994 interview.