Mona Lisa (Nat King Cole song)
"Mona Lisa" is a popular song written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston for the Paramount Pictures film Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1949), in which it was performed by Sergio de Karlo and a recurrent accordion motif.
The title and lyrics refer to the renaissance portrait Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo da Vinci.
The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1950.
Nat King Cole, pictured around the time that "Mona Lisa" was released.
Jay Livingston was an American composer best known as half of a song-writing duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote music and Evans the lyrics.
Livingston