tributes.com

Bill Dees.

Singer-composer Bill Dees, best known for his songwriting collaboration with Roy Orbison on the hits "Oh, Pretty Woman" and "It's Over," has died at age 73 in Mountain Home, Ark., according to an obituary posted online by a local funeral home.

Dees, a Texas native who got his start in the 1950s with a high school band called the Five Bops, is credited with writing scores of songs in all, some recorded by such performers as Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and Glen Campbell.

But Dees' most fruitful collaboration was his work with fellow Texan Orbison, with whom he teamed up to write Orbison's signature 1964 hit, "Oh, Pretty Woman." which was featured years later in the soundtrack to the movie "Pretty Woman," starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. 

The band Van Halen also scored a hit with a cover version of "Oh, Pretty Woman."

According to various accounts, the song's refrain grew out of an offhand comment Dees made when Orbison's wife, Claudette, walked into the room where the two men were writing together, and Orbison asked her if she needed any money.

Dees cracked, "Pretty woman never needs any money," and the song took shape from there, with the bulk of the composition coming together in less than hour.

As recounted in one biography posted on Dees' official website, Dees also contributed uncredited harmony vocals on the record.

"Oh, Pretty Woman" went to No. 1 in United States and topped the charts in Britain, as did the 1964 Orbison ballad co-written by Dees, "It's Over," a considerable achievement given the dominance of the Beatles and other British groups on both sides of the Atlantic at the time.

Other Orbison singles Dees co-wrote included "Born on the Wind," "Crawling Back," "Communication Breakdown," "Walk On," "Windsurfer" and "So This Is Love."

Dees died last week, on Oct. 24, at Mountain Home, where he had lived since 1989, according to an announcement posted on the website of the Kirby & Family Funeral Home, where a memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 3. 

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In 1990, Julia Roberts wore a now-iconic outfit of black leather boots, blonde wig, and white tank top connected by a gold ring to a blue mini-skirt as "Pretty Woman's" hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold Vivian Ward.

Splash News

Emma Roberts dressed as her aunt Julia Roberts' character from "Pretty Woman."

This Halloween, her niece Emma Roberts -- who wasn't even born until the year after the film came out  -- donned a replica of the same outfit to attend a Halloween party with boyfriend Evan Peters ("American Horror Story"). (No, Peters didn't dress as Richard Gere's character from the same film.)

The costume has sparked controversy before. Child beauty pageant contestant Paisley, age 3, was dressed up in the same outfit, only a million sizes smaller, on a 2011 episode of "Toddlers & Tiaras" on TLC.

At the time, another pageant mom was horrified, saying ""I would never ever do that to my little girl. Ever ... It's outfits like that that give us a bad rap."

At 21, Roberts is hardly a toddler, and she's apparently not the only woman who wants to dress like a prostitute on Halloween. In fact, you can buy similar costumes online.

Still, not everyone loved the getup. Wrote Alexis Rhiannon on Crushable.com, "(Julia Roberts) also played many other roles! Very few of them actual hookers! You could’ve been Tinker Bell from 'Hook,' or Erin Brockovich, or even a Mystic Pizza! The boys would’ve loved that!"

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Richard Gere and Julia Roberts starred in the 1990 romantic comedy "Pretty Woman."

Updated 12:45 p.m. ET: A rep for Richard Gere refutes the story from Australia's Woman's Day and told E! News, "He did not give an interview to this publication."

Original story:
This isn't so pretty now, is it?

"Pretty Woman" may be one of the most successful romantic flicks of all time, and it may have catapulted Richard Gere to leading-man stardom and Julia Roberts to meteoric superstardom.

But if you think that Gere's got warm and fuzzy things to say about it, think again.

The actor has come out swinging against the movie, and it looks like he's got nothing but ugly barbs to fire out....

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"It's my least favorite thing," Gere tells Australian mag Woman's Day about "Pretty Woman."

"People ask me about that movie, but I've forgotten it," he cops. "That was a silly romantic comedy."

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So what isn't silly? How about his new financial thriller "Arbitrage," which premiered at Sundance and which Gere says is "much more serious" than "Pretty Woman" and "has some real cause and effect."

That's not nice, throwing Roberts' oxymoronic hooker fairy tale under the bus!

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In "Arbitrage," Gere plays a skeevy, Bernie Madoff-ish billionaire who, in an interesting twist, appears to be the flip side of the dreamy venture capitalist he played in "Pretty Woman."

Apparently, Gere's had a change of heart about those kinds of characters, too. He goes on to tell Woman's Day that "Pretty Woman" "made those guys seem dashing, which was so wrong.... Thankfully, today, we are all more skeptical of those guys."

Skeptical indeed, if it's enough to turn Gere against Roberts' toothy charms!

What do you think? Is Richard Gere right to dismiss "Pretty Woman?"

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