Lionel Bart, the lyricist and composer who created “Oliver!,” died of cancer Saturday at age 68 in London.

Bart played a large role in reviving the English musical at a time when American productions dominated London’s stages. He also won dubious fame for losing his fortune and survived years of alcoholism and excess.

“Lionel was the father of the modern British musical,” composer Andrew Lloyd Webber said Saturday.

Bart’s first musical, “Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be,” premiered in 1959 and had a two-year commercial run in London. He produced “Lock Up Your Daughters” that same year.

In 1960 came “Oliver!,” based on Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist.” The play had a long run followed by successful revivals in 1967 and 1977. The show was also a hit in New York, and Bart won Broadway’s Tony Award for the music and lyrics of “Oliver!” It was later made into a film.

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Bart followed up with music and lyrics for “Blitz!” in 1962 and “Maggie May” in 1964, and did the music for “Lionel” in 1977. He also produced “Twang!” and “La Strada.”

The enormous success of “Oliver!” allowed Bart to carouse with royalty and celebrities (one close friend was Beatles manager Brian Epstein), but the partying and shows that failed drained his finances and health. In recent years he tried to revive “Quasimodo,” based on “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” which he had written in the early 1960s.

Bart is survived by two sisters. Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.

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