best film/tv composers ever
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Born in Cleveland, Ohio, but brought up in Pennsylvania, where he played the flute in a local band, as a youth, before sending some arrangements to Benny Goodman. Goodman offered him a job and, after serving in WWII, he joined the rearranged Glenn Miller band. In 1952, he was given a two-week assignment at Universal to work on an Bud Abbott and Lou Costello film and ended up staying for six years. Success with The Glenn Miller Story (1954) allowed him to score many other films, helping along the way to change the style of film background music by injecting jazz into the traditional orchestral arrangements of the 1950s. He was nominated for 18 Oscars and won four; in addition, he won 20 Grammys and 2 Emmys, made over 50 albums and had 500 works published. Mancini collaborated extensively with Blake Edwards -- firstly on TV's Peter Gunn (1958), then on Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), which won him two Oscars; he won further Oscars for the titles song for Days of Wine and Roses (1962) and the score for Victor/Victoria (1982); he will be best-remembered for the theme tune for The Pink Panther (1963).- Music Department
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Immensely talented, Argentinian born pianist, conductor and composer who has written over 100 scores for both television & the cinema including the memorable themes to Mission: Impossible (1966), Mannix (1967), Starsky and Hutch (1975), Cool Hand Luke (1967), and Bullitt (1968). Schifrin has regularly worked alongside Clint Eastwood (another jazz music aficionado) on numerous contributions including the themes to all the Dirty Harry films, plus Joe Kidd (1972) and Coogan's Bluff (1968). During his illustrious career, Schifrin has received four Grammy Awards, and has received six Oscar nominations.
Schifrin received his classical music training in both Argentina & France, and is a highly respected jazz pianist. On moving back to Buenos Aires in the mid 1950s, Schifrin formed his own big band, and was noticed by jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie, who asked him to become his pianist and arranger. Schifrin moved to the United States in 1958 and his career really began to take off. In addition to his jazz and cinema compositions, he has conducted the London Philarmonic Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angelas Philarmonic, the Los Angelas Chamber Orchestra and many others.
Schifrin is one of the talented and significant contributors to film music over the past 40 years, and he continues to remain active with recent compositions for the Jackie Chan films Rush Hour (1998) and Rush Hour 2 (2001).- Music Department
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Considered to be one of the greatest minds in music and television history, Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. was born on March 14, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of Sarah Frances (Wells), a bank executive, and Quincy Delight Jones, Sr., a carpenter.
Jones found his love for music while he was enrolled in grade school at Seattle's Garfield High School, this is also where he had met Ray Charles whom he later worked and became friends with. In 1951, Quincy Jones had won a scholarship to the Berklee College Of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Jones however dropped out when he got the opportunity to tour with Lionel Hampton's band as a trumpeter and conductor. Jones also worked for the European production of Harold Arlen's blues opera, Free and Easy in 1959. After Jones had worked on several projects overseas he returned to New York where he composed and arranged, and recorded for artists such as Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Dinah Washington, LeVern Baker, and Big Maybell. Jones was working with these artists while holding an executive position at Mercury Records, being one of the very few African Americans at the time to have such a position.
In 1963, Quincy Jones won his first Grammy award for his Count Basie arrangement of "I Can't Stop Loving You". In 1964, by the request of director Sidney Lumet, Jones composed the music for his movie, The Pawnbroker. This would be the first of many Jones composed for film scores. By the mid-1960's Quincy Jones became the conductor and arranger for Frank Sinatra's orchestra. Jones also conducted and arranged one of Sinatra's most memorable songs, Fly Me To The Moon. Jones appeared on a lot of film credits for his music such as The Slender Thread, Walk, Don't Run, In Cold Blood, In The Heat Of The Night, A Dandy In Aspic, Mackenna's Gold, and The Italian Job. In 1972 Quincy Jones was the theme song composer for the hit-sitcom, Sanford And Son.
Quincy Jones in 1978 worked on music for the Wiz, this is where he met icon, Michael Jackson. Jackson at the time was looking for a producer, Jones recommended some producers but in the end asked Jackson if he could do it, Jackson said yes. In 1982 as a result of this partnership, Jones had formed a tapestry with Jackson which was unbreakable it was called, Thriller. The Thriller album sold more than 100 million records world-wide. Jones continued working with Jackson with his Bad album in 1987. However after Jones recommended Jackson seek other producers to update his music. Jones referred Jackson to producer, Teddy Riley. This ended a partnership between two-greats, Jackson and Jones would never collaborate again.
In 1981 Jones had an album called, The Dude. In 1985 Jones scored the film adaptation of The Color Purple. Jones also was a philanthropist, in 1985 gathering multiple stars to participate in the song We Are The World to help raise money to help the victims of the Ethopian disaster.
In 1990 Jones composed a theme song for the new sitcom which was centered around Will Smith, The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air. Jones was also the executive producer of the show.
Quincy Jones will forever be remembered as someone who helped sculpt music in every form, he refined music and through the music he helped sculpt brought messages of peace, justice, love, funk, and hope.- Composer
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A classmate of director Sergio Leone with whom he would form one of the great director/composer partnerships (right up there with Eisenstein & Prokofiev, Hitchcock & Herrmann, Fellini & Rota), Ennio Morricone studied at Rome's Santa Cecilia Conservatory, where he specialized in trumpet. His first film scores were relatively undistinguished, but he was hired by Leone for A Fistful of Dollars (1964) on the strength of some of his song arrangements. His score for that film, with its sparse arrangements, unorthodox instrumentation (bells, electric guitars, harmonicas, the distinctive twang of the jew's harp) and memorable tunes, revolutionized the way music would be used in Westerns, and it is hard to think of a post-Morricone Western score that doesn't in some way reflect his influence. Although his name will always be synonymous with the spaghetti Western, Morricone has also contributed to a huge range of other film genres: comedies, dramas, thrillers, horror films, romances, art movies, exploitation movies - making him one of the film world's most versatile artists. He has written nearly 400 film scores, so a brief summary is impossible, but his most memorable work includes the Leone films, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers (1966) , Roland Joffé's The Mission (1986), Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) and Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (1988), plus a rare example of sung opening credits for Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966).- Composer
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Unlike many musicians who started to learn music while still in their childhood, Maurice Jarre was already late in his teens when he discovered music and decided to make a career in that field. Against his father's will, he enrolled at Conservatoire de Paris where he studied percussions, composition and harmonies. He also met and studied under Joseph Martenot, inventor of the Martenot Waves, an electronic keyboard that prefigured the modern synthesizer.
After leaving the Conservatoire, Jarre played percussion and Martenot Waves for a while at Jean-Louis Barrault's theater. In 1950, another actor-director, Jean Vilar , asked Jarre to score his production of Kleist's 'The Princess of Homburg', the first score Jarre wrote. Shortly after, Vilar created the 'Théâtre National Populaire' and hired Jarre as permanent composer, an association that lasted 12 years.
In 1951, filmmaker Georges Franju asked him to write the music of his 23 minutes documentary Hôtel des Invalides (1952), Jarre's first composition for the movie screen. His first full-length feature, again directed by Georges Franju, was Head Against the Wall (1959) followed by Franju's best known film, Eyes Without a Face (1960).
Jarre's career took a spectacular turn in 1961 when producer Sam Spiegel asked him to work on David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Initially, three composers were supposed to write the score, but for various reasons, Jarre ended up writing all the music himself and won his first Oscar. His second collaboration with David Lean on Doctor Zhivago (1965) earned him another Oscar and obtained a level of success rarely achieved by a film score. He collaborated with Lean again on Ryan's Daughter (1970) and A Passage to India (1984) for which he received a third Academy Award. He was set to score Lean's next movie, 'Nostromo', but the director became ill and died before the film could ever get made.
He also worked for directors as diverse as William Wyler (The Collector (1965)); John Huston (three films); Franco Zeffirelli (Jesus of Nazareth (1977)); Volker Schlöndorff (The Tin Drum (1979) [The Tin Drum] and Circle of Deceit (1981) [Circle of Deceit]); Peter Weir (four films); Michael Apted (Gorillas in the Mist (1988)) and Alfonso Arau (A Walk in the Clouds (1995)).
Mainly perceived as a symphonist and known for his prominent use of percussions, Jarre often integrated ethnic instruments in his orchestrations like cithara on 'Lawrence of Arabia' or fujara (an old Slovak flute) on 'The Tin Drum'. During the eighties, he incorporated synthetic sounds in his music, writing his first entirely electronic score for The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). His son Jean-Michel Jarre is a well-known popular musician.- Music Department
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Mort Stevens got his start in the 1950s as Sammy Davis Jr.'s arranger and conductor. He then went into composing various scores for network television, as well as becoming music supervisor for CBS in the 1960s. His many fine television scores include, "Hawaii Five-O" (Emmy winner), "Police Woman" and "Gunsmoke." He also scored some mini-series, including, "Masada" (1981) and "Wheels" (1978) (he received Emmy nominations for his work on these two productions). Just before his passing in November, 1991, he was arranging music for John Williams and the Boston Pops and was Music Director for Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli and Dean Martin concerts in the late 1980s. His contribution to television music is considered some of the finest and only lets one appreciate the art all the more.- Music Department
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Howard Greenfield was born on 15 March 1936 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer and writer, known for Deadpool (2016), Transsiberian (2008) and Grease 2 (1982). He died on 4 March 1986 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Music Department
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Jack Keller was born on 11 November 1936 in Queens, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for The Monkees (1965), Easy Rider (1969) and The Cable Guy (1996). He was married to Roberta Steiger. He died on 1 April 2005 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.- Composer
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Born in Milan in 1911 into a family of musicians, Nino Rota was first a student of Orefice and Pizzetti. Then, still a child, he moved to Rome where he completed his studies at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in 1929 with Alfredo Casella. In the meantime, he had become an 'enfant prodige', famous both as a composer and as an orchestra conductor. His first oratorio, "L'infanzia di San Giovanni Battista," was performed in Milan and Paris as early as 1923 and his lyrical comedy, "Il Principe Porcaro," was composed in 1926. From 1930 to 1932, Nino Rota lived in the USA. He won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia where he attended classes in composition taught by Rosario Scalero and classes in orchestra taught by Fritz Reiner. He returned to Italy and earned a degree in literature from the University of Milan. In 1937, he began a teaching career that led to the directorship of the Bari Conservatory, a title he held from 1950 until his death in 1979. After his "childhood" compositions, Nino Rota wrote the following operas: Ariodante (Parma 1942), Torquemada (1943), Il cappello di paglia di Firenze (Palermo 1955), I due timidi (RAI 1950, London 1953), La notte di un neurastenico (Premio Italia 1959, La Scala 1960), Lo scoiattolo in gamba (Venezia 1959), Aladino e la lampada magica (Naples 1968), La visita meravigliosa (Palermo 1970), Napoli milionaria (Spoleto Festival 1977). He also wrote the following ballets: La rappresentazione di Adamo ed Eva (Perugia 1957), La Strada (La Scala 1965), Aci e Galatea (Rome 1971), Le Molière imaginaire (Paris and Brussels 1976) and Amor di poeta (Brussels 1978) for Maurice Béjart. In addition, there are countless works for orchestra that have been performed since before World War II and are still performed by orchestras in every part of the world. His work in film dates back to the early forties. His filmography includes the names of virtually all of the noted directors of his time. First among these is Federico Fellini. He wrote all of the movie scores for Fellini's films from The White Sheik (1952) in 1952 to Orchestra Rehearsal (1978) in 1978. Other directors include Renato Castellani, Luchino Visconti, Franco Zeffirelli, Mario Monicelli, Francis Ford Coppola (Oscar for best original score for The Godfather Part II (1974)), King Vidor, René Clément, Edward Dmytryk, and 'Eduardo de Filippo'. He also composed the music for many theatre productions by Visconti, Zefirelli, and de Filippo. In February of 1995, the Nino Rota Foundation was established at Fondazione Cini of Venice, Italy. Cini specializes in the works of 20th century Italian composers and includes the estate of Casella.- Music Department
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Jean-Pierre Bourtayre was born on 31 January 1942 in Paris, France. He was a composer, known for Same Old Song (1997), Cross (1987) and Space Cobra (1982). He was married to Isabelle Appay and Brigitte Ansermet. He died on 4 March 2024 in Chatou, Yvelines, France.- Composer
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BAFTA winning and Emmy nominated composer Mark Thomas is one of the most sought-after film & tv drama composers in the UK today. Classically trained, Mark is stylistically innovative and always ready to experiment and embrace something new.
A first-choice for comedy film and tv drama, Mark's credits include all 10 series of Tiger Aspect's 'Benidorm' for ITV, 5 series of 'Episodes' (for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy) starring Matt LeBlanc, Tamsin Grieg & Steve Mangan; 36 episodes of Tidy Productions' brilliant comedy series 'Stella' created by and starring Ruth Jones and more than 150 episodes of 'Shaun The Sheep' created by Aardman Animations. It was for feature film 'Twin Town', directed by Kevin Allen and starring Rhys Ifans and Dougray Scot, that Mark won his much deserved BAFTA for Best Original Music.
Comedy drama rarely requires 'comedy music' and it's Mark's considered, consistent and intelligent approach to storytelling that allows him to create music that engages with the audience - whatever the genre; he's experienced and exciting. A safe pair of hands but always striving, with proven success, to deliver something extra.- Composer
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Pierre Arvay was born on 21 October 1924 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. Pierre was a composer, known for Shaolin Mantis (1978), Horror Hospital (1973) and What the Future Holds (2018). Pierre died on 18 August 1980 in Bagnols-en-Forêt, Var, France.- Music Department
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Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was born on 4 January 1710 in Jesi, Papal State [now Marche, Italy]. He is known for Chocolat (2000), Sucker Punch (2011) and Mirror (1975). He died on 16 March 1736 in Pozzuoli, Kingdom of Naples [now Campania, Italy].- Composer
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Britain's most iconic and prolific composer of music for TV action/adventure in the 1950's and 60's was born in Cheshire, the son of a builder. He dropped out of school to work for a gas oven manufacturer at the tender age of fourteen. Music was in his blood and jazz was a particularly strong influence. Equally adept at playing and at composing/arranging, Edwin Astley began playing clarinet and saxophone for the Royal Army Service Corps while in his teens. After World War II, he joined a dance band, before long, fronting his own orchestra. Some time later, he moved to London to join a prominent music publishing firm as arranger for singers Vera Lynn and Ann Shelton. By 1953, Astley had also started in the film business (hired by the ever budget-conscious Danziger brothers), initially as a writer of incidental music.
Popularly, he first attracted attention with his nine-note fanfare introducing The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955) (though the actual theme song was written by American Carl Sigman). This inaugurated Astley's advancement to composer of scores for A-grade feature films (The Mouse That Roared (1959), The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960), The Phantom of the Opera (1962), etc.), always preferring to work freelance, never under contract. In between writing operatic pieces and music for son et lumière performances, Astley tended to reserve his best work for television, beginning with the classic jazzy harpsichord theme for Danger Man (1960). This was followed by similarly evocative, syncopated themes for The Saint (1962), The Baron (1966), The Champions (1968) and Department S (1969) -- instantly recognizable music which all but defined television in the swinging sixties.
Britain's film industry declined in the decade which followed and Astley retired to Goring-on-Thames, a village in Oxfordshire. There, he spent his remaining years growing vegetables, building a summer house and a recording studio in his garage, boating on the Thames, playing golf and travelling. Until his death in 1998, he continued to dabble in composition, working with his son on arrangements of The Who and The Rolling Stones, as well as providing music (commissioned by such employers as Pan Am, BOAC and the British Stock Exchange) for documentaries, travelogues and educational subjects.- Music Department
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Prolific British composer who has written scores for over four hundred film and television series. Very much of the old school of film composers, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and his scores reflect this classical training in their complexity. The trademark Johnson sound is the unusual use of strings with interesting chord combinations in frequent use. Perhaps the most famous themes that Laurie Johnson is best known for is The Professionals (1977) (1977-83) and The Avengers (1961) and The New Avengers (1976) soundtracks. These works combined classical orchestration with the "funky" sound of the time, often using wah-wah guitar and "walking" funk bass lines with a full orchestra playing along. Since 1974, Laurie Johnson has also jointly-owned the production companies that produced these programmes, the most famous being "Avengers Mark One Productions Ltd", who produced the shows mentioned earlier. Still working hard into his Seventies, Laurie Johnson lives in Stanmore, Middlesex, England, UK.- Music Department
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Ron Grainer was one of the outstanding composers of music for British television. He was born in a small mining town called Atherton, Queensland, Australia on 11th August 1922, where his father owned the local milk bar. His mother played piano and Ron was on the keyboard from the age of two and considered a child genius, playing concerts for the local community by the age of six. He also showed the first sign of his versatility at the tender age of four when he began to learn the violin, practicing for two hours before and after school. In order to develop this talent further, he also studied the piano to such a level that, by his early teens he was a proficient performer on both instruments. He was never allowed to play any games which might injure his fingers so led a pretty lonely life. During these years he was an excellent scholar who also had to complete homework assignments. Maths was his special subject, which helped enormously in his orchestrations later on.
Before the second world-war, he studied music under Sir Eugene Goosens at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, but this was interrupted by World War II. He was called up to serve in the army on the islands after Japan invaded and Australia sent forces to monitor planes flying over. It was there that a barrel crashed against his leg when he was travelling in a truck and they had to drive over open ground very fast. He managed to get one leg over the tailgate but the other leg was crushed. There were no doctors at the base and he was in terrible pain and unconscious for several days before he was given medical treatment, by then osteomyelitis had entered the bone marrow. They wanted to amputate but he couldn't have survived the anaesthetic, so he did not lose his leg but was in and out of hospital for years and received an army disability pension.
He returned to Sydney Conservatorium when the war ended but he gave up the violin to concentrate on composition. During this time he rented a room from Margot who became his wife. She had her daughter living with her who had an aversion to meat and so she and Ron bonded as Ron had become total vegetarian during his treatment.
The couple decided to move to England, as a means of raising his international profile. However, on arriving in 1952, with Margot, he initially found regular work as a pianist in light entertainment, touring as part of a musical act - 'The Alien Brothers & June' - with other acts such as Billy Daniels, Guy Mitchell, Frankie Laine, Al Martino and Billy Eckstine. Playing in such exalted company, he was rewarded with no less than three appearances at the London Palladium and also gained something of a reputation as a piano accompanist, often helping out at charity shows organised by Record & Show Mirror proprietor, Isodore Green, the brother of the well-known jazz critic, Benny Green.
During this period, Grainer made his first recordings, albeit as an accompanist, backing Irish folk-singers Charlie McGhee and Patrick O'Hagan, and was also heard on a Christmas record by Shari. He became fascinated with the sound produced by the antique instruments he had started to collect, and soon developed this interest by writing works for some of them. The virginal, the heckle-phones, the shaums, the tenor comporium, as well as the more modern ondes martinet were amongst those he successfully tackled, and one of these early works was an ambitious jazz-ballet score.
After Grainer had divorced Margot, and married his second wife, Jennifer, he settled in Roehampton. He began to act regularly as musical adviser to many gala programmes produced by Associated Rediffusion TV, including those featuring Tito Gobbi and Maria Callas. His 'bread-and-butter' work, however, still lay as a pianist and he was much in demand at the BBC TV rehearsal rooms, which eventually opened a number of important musical doors for him. From this vantage point he was asked to write music for a number of television plays, including The Birthday Party (1960), and also accepted the job as musical adviser to a [link=nm0000267 series. He made such a strong impression on executive producer Andrew Osborn, that he was commissioned to write both the theme and incidental music for a new detective series - Maigret (1959) - based on the books written by Georges Simenon. In using harpsichord, banjo and clavichord, Grainer perfectly captured the Gallic atmosphere and, in doing so, contributed enormously to the ultimate success of the series. This proved to be a major landmark in Grainer's own career. His work on Maigret, which began in 1960 with Rupert Davies in the title role, was directly responsible for him securing his first recording deal with Warner Bros., who issued both a single and an EP featuring musical extracts from the BBC series. Bandleader Joe Loss also recorded the theme and perhaps surprisingly it was his single which reached number 20 in the charts.
Over the next few years, a succession of TV themes and scores followed, many for the BBC. The first of these was 'Happy Joe' in 1962, the theme to Comedy Playhouse (1961) - a series designed to give 'try-outs' to pilots for potential new comedy series. This cheerful sounding melody became extremely familiar with its catchy whistling, encouraging 'Pye', Grainer's new record company to issue it on a single. One of the first Comedy Playhouse (1961) pilots to get its own series was Steptoe and Son (1962), which starred Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett as the feuding father and son rag and bone men. Grainer was invited to compose the theme, which he named 'Old Ned' - a reference to the horse which in the opening sequence was shown pulling the cart along. Helped by the enormous success of the series, the theme to Steptoe and Son was recorded by many artists although this saturation coverage spoilt the chances of any one version charting. 'Old Ned' won for Grainer his second successive Ivor Novello Award, following success with Maigret the previous year.
One of BBC's very first cooking programmes, 'Fanny Craddock', transmitted in 1963, also benefited from a Grainer theme, as did 'Giants Of Steam', The Flying Swan (1965) and The Old Curiosity Shop (1962) in the same year. While Grainer worked on the score for the feature film, Some People (1962), he encountered the Eagles, an instrumental group which hailed from Bristol, where the film was being shot. If not actually Grainer discoveries, they were certainly his protégées; they eventually re-recorded a plethora of Grainer originals, and at one time even shared his new home. Their recording of Oliver Twist (1962), for example, written by Grainer for the BBC's adaptation for children's television in 1962, is to this day the only recorded version.
In the same year further film work ensued in the form of Trial and Error (1962), A Kind of Loving (1962) and Live Now - Pay Later (1962), while the following year he was assigned to write the music for The Mouse on the Moon (1963), a comedy written by Michael Pertwee and directed by Richard Lester. Despite these credential and an excellent cast which included Margaret Rutherford, Ron Moody, Bernard Cribbins and Terry-Thomas, the film failed to live up to expectations. Grainer's theme was covered by 'The Countdowns', who are actually an orchestra under the direction of John Barry. Also in 1963, Grainer was asked to provide a theme for a new children's BBC's science fiction series entitled Doctor Who (1963). Despite some changes to the arrangement, this theme is still being used over 40 years later, as the series enjoys renewed success. The very first episode of Doctor Who was broadcast in November, on a day when television was dominated by the news of the shooting of President John F. Kennedy, so tended to pass almost unnoticed, but soon became one of the most popular children's programmes of all time.
Producer Ned Sherrin was impressed with Grainer's ability to create themes for such a wide variety of programmes and in the same year commissioned him to compose the theme for the ground-breaking satirical BBC TV show, That Was the Week That Was (1962) and its successor, Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life (1964). Lyricist Caryl Brahms provided the words sung by Millicent Martin. Around this time, Grainer started experiencing eye problems. Fortunately, prompt treatment helped alleviate blindness with doctors attributing the condition to excessive working under artificial lighting. Despite this obvious handicap, Grainer's output continued apparently unabated. In 1964 he wrote the film-score for Nothing But the Best (1964) - a comedy drama written by Frederic Raphael which starred Alan Bates, Denholm Elliott, Harry Andrews and Millicent Martin. Director Clive Donner had previously worked with Grainer on 'Some People'.
Grainer's first excursion on to the London stage came with 'Robert and Elizabeth' which he wrote with lyricist Ronald Millar. This was a musical about the lives of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, based on 'The Barretts of Wimpole Street', with an original cast including June Bronhill, Keith Michell and John Clement, who also featured on the original cast album. Work on this musical won for Grainer a third Ivor Novello Award. In 1966, a second musical, 'On the Level', also written with lyricist Ronald Millar wasn't quite so successful, though an original cast album did materialise featuring Sheila White and Rod McLennan. However, in 1970, he returned to the world of stage musicals with 'Sing a Rude Song', which benefited from lyrics written by Caryl Brahms and Ned Sherrin. It opened at the Greenwich Theatre prior to a London West End run at the Garrick Theatre.
After concentrating for a few years on films and theatre work, 1967 saw him back on the small screen. Man in a Suitcase (1967), an ITC series starring Richard Bradford as McGill - a one man investigator, featured another exciting Grainer theme. Next up, he produced an unforgettable theme for The Prisoner (1967). What's often not related is the fact that Grainer was originally ITC's third choice as composer for the cult series, after they rejected earlier efforts from Robert Farnon and Wilfred Josephs. Moreover, Grainer's own original attempt, 'Age of Elegance', was deemed inappropriate by producer and star, Patrick McGoohan, who initially disliked the tempo, deeming it far too languorous. Grainer's swift response was to speed it up. What transpired was precisely the type of theme McGoohan envisaged and is the one which eventually graced each episode.
Although Grainer did not write the popular title song, To Sir, with Love (1967), his association with the success of the film led to further offers and in 1968 he scored three more. The Assassination Bureau (1969), was a frantic black comedy starring Oliver Reed and Diana Rigg, Only When I Larf (1968), which boasted a screenplay based on the Len Deighton book, and a cast which included Richard Attenborough, David Hemmings and Alexandra Stewart as a trio of confidence tricksters, and Lock Up Your Daughters! (1969) - the bawdy comedy based on the very successful stage musical of the same name. The stage version had featured music and lyrics by Laurie Johnson and Lionel Bart, but Grainer was in sole charge of the film score.
Grainer's impressive portfolio of music involving detectives or special agents was further enhanced in 1969 with Paul Temple (1969), created by thriller-writer Francis Durbridge for a series of novels in the 1930s. However, the BBC's adaptation, one of their first major colour productions, placed him in a contemporary setting where he, as a writer turned amateur sleuth, was portrayed by Francis Matthews. The series proved an enduring success, extending to 52 episodes over four seasons, ending in September 1971. However, his talents were not solely confined to this genre as two contemporaneous BBC commissions - Boy Meets Girl and The Jazz Age - bear witness to. Boy Meets Girl (1967), which began in 1967, was a series of plays adapted from modern fiction, of which "The Raging Moon" - later a highly acclaimed film - was one such example, while The Jazz Age (1968) which began a year later, collected the works of such notable authors as Noël Coward and John Galsworthy, as a means of producing a series of plays set entirely in the twenties. His theme for this was a deliberate throw-back to the music of that period.
In the early seventies, Grainer achieved further success as a writer of television themes with three commissions for London Weekend Television: Man in the News (1970), The Trouble with You, Lilian (1971) and The Train Now Standing (1972), as well as one for Thames - For the Love of Ada (1970). The Train Now Standing was a gentle comedy drama set at Burberry Halt - one of the few rural railway stations to escape the Beeching axe. Bill Fraser starred as stationmaster Hedley Green who still worked by the GWR 1933 rule book, and other regulars included Denis Lill and Pamela Cundell. Grainer's theme instantly conjures up images of an era of old-fashioned steam trains, a subject on which he had previously worked for the BBC in the early sixties.
He didn't neglect his film duties either during this period, scoring Hoffman (1970), a curious vehicle for Peter Sellers, and Charlton Heston's The Omega Man (1971) - nowadays regarded as a 'cult' movie. However, his eyes continued to prove troublesome, and in a final attempt to combat this. He decided to move to the Algarve in Portugal, actually a farmhouse in Albufeira, where the natural light was appreciably better. According to a report in the Sun newspaper in 1973, Grainer was enjoying life in Portugal and had no intention of returning to England to pick up his abandoned career. But, in 1976, he divorced Jennifer and two years later moved back to England with his son, Damon, to live near Brighton, at which point he was commissioned by Anglia Television to write the theme for a new mystery series entitled Tales of the Unexpected (1979). Author Roald Dahl, perhaps best known for his children's stories, proved equally as adept at devising and writing many macabre plots for this networked series. Featuring a different cast every week, each self-contained half-hour episode usually ended with a teasing denouement, which, in effect explained its title.
Thames Television provided Grainer with two further commissions in that same year. Born and Bred (1978) and Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978), two very contrasting programmes. Born And Bred was a comedy series set in Battersea, London, which focused upon the stifled and unrealised aspirations of a group of middle-aged residents, whereas 'Edward & Mrs Simpson' based itself on the uncrowned Duke of Windsor's constitutionally controversial relationship with divorcee and subsequent wife, Duchess of Windsor.
Grainer enjoyed a fruitful relationship, artistically and commercially with the BBC and in 1979 he obtained a further two commissions from them. Mystery!: Malice Aforethought (1979), written by Philip Mackie from the original novel by Anthony Berkeley, told the story of a country doctor (Hywel Bennett) who plots to murder his wife (Judy Parfitt) to enable him to continue with a passionate affair. Managing to retain the suspense of the original novel, this was a delightfully observed representation of life in the English countryside during the thirties. This four-part series was broadcast in the same year (1979) as Rebecca (1979) - a strict adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's novel, which once again teamed Grainer with producer Richard Beynon, after their success with 'Malice'. Directed by Simon Langton, Rebecca starred Jeremy Brett, Joanna David and Anna Massey.
Ron Grainer continued writing music for television and films right up to his death in 1981. Two comedies for Independent Television: Shelley (1979) and It Takes a Worried Man (1981) benefited from his themes, while his score for 'The Business of Murder', a two-part episode of LWT's Sunday Night Thriller (1981) series, was his very last and was transmitted posthumously. On 21st February, 1981, only ten days after being admitted to Cuckfield Hospital in Sussex, suffering from cancer of the spine, he died at the early age of 58. His former wife, Jennifer, flew from Portugal to be at his side.
Very much the 'unsung hero' amongst film and TV composers, Grainer is still being 'discovered'. In the late nineties, for example, Chris Evans chose his 'Man in a Suitcase' theme to introduce the very popular TFI Friday (1996). Evans also made a feature out of the opening titles of Tales of the Unexpected (1979) (featuring Grainer's music) by inviting the original dancer onto the show. In 2007, news came that an album of his music from this series was being compiled for future release on CD.- Music Department
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Monty Norman was born on 4 April 1928 in London, England, UK. He was a composer, known for Dr. No (1962), GoldenEye (1995) and Thunderball (1965). He was married to Rina Caesari and Diana Coupland. He died on 11 July 2022 in Slough, Berkshire, England, UK.- Music Department
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Boots Randolph was born on 3 June 1927 in Paducah, Kentucky, USA. He was an actor, known for V for Vendetta (2005), Before Sunrise (1995) and Bad Santa (2003). He was married to Dee Baker. He died on 3 July 2007 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.- Soundtrack
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As one of the best known, awarded, and financially successful composers in US history, John Williams is as easy to recall as John Philip Sousa, Aaron Copland or Leonard Bernstein, illustrating why he is "America's composer" time and again. With a massive list of awards that includes over 52 Oscar nominations (five wins), twenty-odd Gold and Platinum Records, and a slew of Emmy (two wins), Golden Globe (three wins), Grammy (25 wins), National Board of Review (including a Career Achievement Award), Saturn (six wins), American Film Institute (including a Lifetime Achievement Award) and BAFTA (seven wins) citations, along with honorary doctorate degrees numbering in the teens, Williams is undoubtedly one of the most respected composers for Cinema. He's led countless national and international orchestras, most notably as the nineteenth conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980-1993, helming three Pops tours of the US and Japan during his tenure. He currently serves as the Pop's Conductor Laureate. Also to his credit is a parallel career as an author of serious, and some not-so-serious, concert works - performed by the likes of Mstislav Rostropovich, André Previn, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Leonard Slatkin, James Ingram, Dale Clevenger, and Joshua Bell. Of particular interests are his Essay for Strings, a jazzy Prelude & Fugue, the multimedia presentation American Journey (aka The Unfinished Journey (1999)), a Sinfonietta for Winds, a song cycle featuring poems by Rita Dove, concerti for flute, violin, clarinet, trumpet, tuba, cello, bassoon and horn, fanfares for the 1984, 1988 and 1996 Summer Olympics, the 2002 Winter Olympics, and a song co-written with Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman for the Special Olympics! But such a list probably warrants a more detailed background...
Born in Flushing, New York on February 8, 1932, John Towner Williams discovered music almost immediately, due in no small measure to being the son of a percussionist for CBS Radio and the Raymond Scott Quintet. After moving to Los Angeles in 1948, the young pianist and leader of his own jazz band started experimenting with arranging tunes; at age 15, he determined he was going to become a concert pianist; at 19, he premiered his first original composition, a piano sonata.
He attended both UCLA and the Los Angeles City College, studying orchestration under MGM musical associate Robert Van Eps and being privately tutored by composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, until conducting for the first time during three years with the U.S. Air Force. His return to the states brought him to Julliard, where renowned piano pedagogue Madame Rosina Lhevinne helped Williams hone his performance skills. He played in jazz clubs to pay his way; still, she encouraged him to focus on composing. So it was back to L.A., with the future maestro ready to break into the Hollywood scene.
Williams found work with the Hollywood studios as a piano player, eventually accompanying such fare such as the TV series Peter Gunn (1958), South Pacific (1958), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), and To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), as well as forming a surprising friendship with Bernard Herrmann. At age 24, "Johnny Williams" became a staff arranger at Columbia and then at 20th Century-Fox, orchestrating for Alfred Newman and Lionel Newman, Dimitri Tiomkin, Franz Waxman, and other Golden Age notables. In the field of popular music, he performed and arranged for the likes of Vic Damone, Doris Day, and Mahalia Jackson... all while courting actress/singer Barbara Ruick, who became his wife until her death in 1974. John & Barbara had three children; their daughter is now a doctor, and their two sons, Joseph Williams and Mark Towner Williams, are rock musicians.
The orchestrating gigs led to serious composing jobs for television, notably Alcoa Premiere (1961), Checkmate (1960), Gilligan's Island (1964), Lost in Space (1965), Land of the Giants (1968), and his Emmy-winning scores for Heidi (1968) and Jane Eyre (1970). Daddy-O (1958) and Because They're Young (1960) brought his original music to the big theatres, but he was soon typecast doing comedies. His efforts in the genre helped guarantee his work on William Wyler's How to Steal a Million (1966), however, a major picture that immediately led to larger projects. Of course, his arrangements continued to garner attention, and he won his first Oscar for adapting Fiddler on the Roof (1971).
During the '70s, he was King of Disaster Scores with The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Earthquake (1974) and The Towering Inferno (1974). His psychological score for Images (1972) remains one of the most innovative works in soundtrack history. But his Americana - particularly The Reivers (1969) - is what caught the ear of director Steven Spielberg, then preparing for his first feature, The Sugarland Express (1974). When Spielberg reunited with Williams on Jaws (1975), they established themselves as a blockbuster team, the composer gained his first Academy Award for Original Score, and Spielberg promptly recommended Williams to a friend, George Lucas. In 1977, John Williams re-popularized the epic cinema sound of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Waxman and other composers from the Hollywood Golden Age: Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) became the best selling score-only soundtrack of all time, and spawned countless musical imitators. For the next five years, though the music in Hollywood changed, John Williams wrote big, brassy scores for big, brassy films - The Fury (1978), Superman (1978), 1941 (1979), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) ... An experiment during this period, Heartbeeps (1981), flopped. There was a long-term change of pace, nonetheless, as Williams fell in love with an interior designer and married once more.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) brought about his third Oscar, and The River (1984), Empire of the Sun (1987), The Accidental Tourist (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989) added variety to the 1980s, as he returned to television with work on Amazing Stories (1985) and themes for NBC, including NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (1970). The '80s also brought the only exceptions to the composer's collaboration with Steven Spielberg - others scored both Spielberg's segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) and The Color Purple (1985).
Intending to retire, the composer's output became sporadic during the 1990s, particularly after the exciting Jurassic Park (1993) and the masterful, Oscar-winning Schindler's List (1993). This lighter workload, coupled with a number of hilarious references on The Simpsons (1989) actually seemed to renew interest in his music. Two Home Alone films (1990, 1992), JFK (1991), Nixon (1995), Sleepers (1996), Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Angela's Ashes (1999), and a return to familiar territory with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) recalled his creative diversity of the '70s.
In this millennium, the artist shows no interest in slowing down. His relationships with Spielberg and Lucas continue in A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), the remaining Star Wars prequels (2002, 2005), Minority Report (2002), Catch Me If You Can (2002), and a promised fourth Indiana Jones film. There is a more focused effort on concert works, as well, including a theme for the new Walt Disney Concert Hall and a rumored light opera. But one certain highlight is his musical magic for the world of Harry Potter (2001, 2002, 2004, etc.), which he also arranged into a concert suite geared toward teaching children about the symphony orchestra. His music remains on the whistling lips of people around the globe, in the concert halls, on the promenades, in album collections, sports arenas, and parades, and, this writer hopes, touching some place in ourselves. So keep those ears ready wherever you go, 'cause you will likely hear a bit of John Williams on your way.- Music Department
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Born on February 10, 1929, Jerry Goldsmith studied piano with Jakob Gimpel and composition, theory, and counterpoint with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He also attended classes in film composition given by Miklós Rózsa at the Univeristy of Southern California. In 1950, he was employed as a clerk typist in the music department at CBS. There, he was given his first embryonic assignments as a composer for radio shows such as "Romance" and "CBS Radio Workshop". He wrote one score a week for these shows, which were performed live on transmission. He stayed with CBS until 1960, having already scored The Twilight Zone (1959). He was hired by Revue Studios to score their series Thriller (1960). It was here that he met the influential film composer Alfred Newman who hired Goldsmith to score the film Lonely Are the Brave (1962), his first major feature film score. An experimentalist, Goldsmith constantly pushed forward the bounds of film music: Planet of the Apes (1968) included horns blown without mouthpieces and a bass clarinetist fingering the notes but not blowing. He was unafraid to use the wide variety of electronic sounds and instruments which had become available, although he did not use them for their own sake.
He rose rapidly to the top of his profession in the early to mid-1960s, with scores such as Freud (1962), A Patch of Blue (1965) and The Sand Pebbles (1966). In fact, he received Oscar nominations for all three and another in the 1960s for Planet of the Apes (1968). From then onwards, his career and reputation was secure and he scored an astonishing variety of films during the next 30 years or so, from Patton (1970) to Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and from Chinatown (1974) to The Boys from Brazil (1978). He received 17 Oscar nominations but won only once, for The Omen (1976) in 1977 (Goldsmith himself dismissed the thought of even getting a nomination for work on a "horror show"). He enjoyed giving concerts of his music and performed all over the world, notably in London, where he built up a strong relationship with London Symphony Orchestra.
Jerry Goldsmith died at age 75 on July 21, 2004 after a long battle with cancer.- Music Department
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Alexander Courage was born on 10 December 1919 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Star Trek (1966), Jurassic Park (1993) and Star Trek: Generations (1994). He was married to Shirley Pumpelly. He died on 15 May 2008 in Pacific Palisades, California, USA.- Music Department
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Francis Lai was born on 26 April 1932 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Love Story (1970), Stranger Than Fiction (2006) and Kingpin (1996). He was married to Dagmar Puetz. He died on 7 November 2018 in Paris, France.- Composer
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Michel Legrand is a three-time Academy Award-winning French composer, conductor and pianist who composed over 200 film and television scores as well as recorded over a hundred albums of jazz, popular and classical music.
He was born on February 24, 1932, in Becon-les-Bruyeres, in the Paris suburbs, France. His father, Raymond Legrand, was a French composer and actor. His mother, Marcelle der Mikaelian, was descended from the Armenian bourgeousie. From 1942 - 1949 young Legrand studied piano at the Paris Conservatoire. There his teachers were Nadia Boulanger and Henri Challan among other renown musicians. He received numerous awards for his skills in composition and piano and mastered a dozen other instruments. In 1947 he attended a concert by Dizzy Gillespie and caught a jazz bug. He started working as a pianist for major French singers. He eventually collaborated with Dizzy Gillespie on several albums and film scores.
In 1954 Legrand became an overnight star after his album "I Love Paris" became a hit, it went on selling over 8 million copies. He followed the success with such albums as "Holiday in Rome" (1955) and "Michel Legrand Plays Cole Porter" (1957). In 1958 he was invited to play at Moscow Festival of Students and Youth. There, in Moscow, he met his future wife, a young French model with who he went on to have three children.
In the late 1950s and 1960s Legrand was caught up in the French New Wave. He scored seven films for jean-Luc Godard, he also made ten films with Jacques Demy, and became responsible for creating the genre of musical in the French Cinema. In 1963 Legrand did The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), the first film musical that was entirely sung. For that film score he received three Oscar nominations. His beautiful, haunting melody, "I Will Wait For You", received nomination for Best Original Song.
In 1966 Legrand decided to take his chances in Hollywood, and moved to Los Angeles with his wife and three children. His friendship with Quincy Jones and Hank Mancini helped him a great deal, especially in meeting the lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman. In 1969 Legrand won his first Oscar for Best Music, Original Song for "The Windmills of Your Mind" and was also nominated for Best Music, Original score for a Motion Picture for The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). Eventually Legrand went on to become a star in the US, he received twelve nominations for Academy Awards, and won two more Oscars. He was also nominated for a Grammy 27 times and received 5 Grammys in the 1970s.
In the 1980s and 1990s Legrand continued giving live concerts with his own jazz trio. He also led his big band which he took on several international tours, accompanying such stars as Ray Charles , Diana Ross , Björk , and Stéphane Grappelli who celebrated his 85th birthday in 1992. He also recorded several classical albums, including an album with cross-genre hits entitled "Kiri Sings Michel Legrand" with the opera singer Kiri te Kanawa. During the 2000s Legrand has been working mainly in the studio, and also made several international tours.
In 2005 a compilation of Legrand's best known film soundtracks was released under the title "Le Cinema de Michel Legrand", featuring 90 songs composed in the course of his career.- Writer
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Renowned composer ("West Side Story", "Candide", "On The Town"), conductor, arranger, pianist, educator, author, TV/radio host, educated at the Boston Latin School and Harvard University (BA) with Walter Piston. Edward Burlingame Hill and A. Tillman Merritt. He studied piano with Helen Coates, Heinrich Gebhard and Isabelle Vengerova, at the Curtis Institute with Fritz Reiner, and at the Berkshire Music Center with Serge Koussevitzky (and became an assistant to Koussevitzky). He was assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic in 1943-1944, and conductor of the New York Symphony, 1945-1948.
He was music advisor to the Israel Philharmonic from 1948-1949, and a member of the faculty at the Berkshire Music Center from 1948 (though he did take leaves of absence), and head of the conducting department there in 1951. He was Professor of Music at Brandeis University, 1951-1956; and co-conductor of the New York Philharmonic, 1957-1958, and music director there after 1958. He won an Emmy award for his televised Young People's Concerts. He was guest conductor of symphony orchestras in the USA and Europe, and conducted the Israel Philharmonic seven times between 1947 and 1957. He toured the US with Koussevitzky in 1951, and was the first American to conduct at the La Scala Opera House in Milan, in 1953. He was awarded the Sonning Prize in Denmark, and was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
He joined ASCAP in 1944, and his chief musical collaborators included Betty Comden, Adolph Green, John Latouche, and Stephen Sondheim. His song compositions include "New York, New York", "Lonely Town", "Some Other Time", "I Can Cook, Too", "I Get Carried Away", "Lucky to Be Me", "Ohio", "A Quiet Girl", "It's Love", "A Little Bit in Love", "Wrong Note Rag", "Glitter and Be Gay", "El Dorado", "The Best of All Possible Worlds", "Maria", "Tonight", "Something's Coming", "I Feel Pretty", "Cool", "America", and "Gee, Officer Krupke".- Music Department
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Richard Strauss was a German composer best known for symphonic poem 'Also sprach Zarathustra' (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1896) used as the music score in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by director Stanley Kubrick.
He was born Richard Georg Strauss on June 11, 1864, in Munich, Bavaria (now Germany). His father, named Franz Strauss, was the principal horn player at the Royal Opera in Munich. Young Strauss was taught music by his father. He wrote his first composition at the age of 6. From the age of 10 he studied music theory and orchestration with an assistant conductor of the Munich Court Orchestra. He was also attending orchestral rehearsals. In 1874 Strauss heard operas by Richard Wagner, but his father did not share his son's interest and forbade him to study Wagner's music until the age of 16.
Strauss studied philosophy and art history at Munich University, then at Berlin University. In 1885 he replaced Hans von Bulow as the principal conductor of the Munich Orchestra. Strauss emerged from under his father's influence when he met Alexander Ritter, a composer, and the husband of one of the nieces of Richard Wagner. He abandoned his father's conservative style and began writing symphonic tone poems. In 1894, Strauss married soprano singer Pauline Maria de Ahna. She was famous for being dominant and ill-tempered, but she was also a source of inspiration to Strauss, resulting in the preferred use of the soprano voice in his compositions.
The image of Richard Strauss and his music was abused by the Nazi propaganda machine, to a point of damaging the composer's posthumous reputation. Richard Strauss was trapped in Nazi Germany just as the Russian intellectuals were under Stalin in the Soviet regime. Strauss' name and music was used by the Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, who appointed Strauss, without his consent, to the State Music Bureau, as a mask on the ugly regime. Strauss was commissioned to write the Olympic Hymn for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. His cautious apolitical position was the only way to survive and to protect his daughter-in-law Alice, who was Jewish.
In 1935 Strauss was fired from his job at the State Music Bureau. He refused to remove from the playbill the name of his friend and opera librettist, the writer Stefan Zweig, who was Jewish. Later Gestapo intercepted a letter from Strauss to Zweig, where Strauss condemned the Nazis. Strauss' daughter-in-law Alice was placed under the house arrest in 1938. In 1942 Strauss managed to move his Jewish relatives to Vienna. There Alice and Strauss's son were later again arrested and imprisoned for two nights. Only Strauss' personal effort saved them. They were returned under house arrest until the end of the Second World War.
Richard Strauss died on September 8, 1949, in Garmish-Partenkirchen, Germany at the age of 85. Strauss' symphonic poem 'Also sprach Zarathustra' (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1896) was recorded under the baton of Herbert von Karajan and was used as the music score in '2001: A Space Odyssey' by director Stanley Kubrik, as well as in many other films.- Composer
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Serge Gainsbourg was born on 2 April 1928 in Paris, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Equator (1983), Je t'aime moi non plus (1976) and Death Proof (2007). He was married to Françoise Pancrazzi and Lise Levitzky. He died on 2 March 1991 in Paris, France.- Music Department
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Austrian composer Max Steiner achieved legendary status as the creator of hundreds of classic American film scores. He was born Maximilian Raoul Walter Steiner in Vienna, Austria, the son of Marie Mizzi (Hasiba) and Gabor Steiner, an impresario, and the grandson of actor and theater director and manager Maximilian Steiner. His family was Jewish. As a child, he was astonishingly musically gifted, composing complex works as a teenager and completing the course of study at Vienna's Hochschule fuer Musik und Darstellende Kunst in only one year, at the age of sixteen. He studied under Gustav Mahler and, before the age of twenty, made his living as a conductor and as composer of works for the theater, the concert hall, and vaudeville. After a brief sojourn in Britian, Steiner moved to the USA in the same wave as fellow film composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold and quickly became a sought-after orchestrator and conductor on Broadway, bringing the Western classical tradition in which he had been raised to mainstream audiences.
He was soon snatched up by the film studios with the advent of sound and helped the fledgling talkies become musically sophisticated within a brief few years. He was one of the first to fully integrate the musical score with the images on-screen and to score individual scenes for their content and create leitmotifs for individual characters, as opposed to simply providing vaguely appropriate mood music, as evidenced in King Kong (1933), which set the standard for American film music for years to come.
From the 1930s to the 1960s, he was one of the most respected, innovative, and brilliant composers of American film music, creating a truly staggering number of exceptional scores for films of all types. He was nominated for Academy Awards for his scores eighteen times and won three times. Years after his death in 1971, he remains one of the giants of motion picture history, and his music still thrives.- Music Department
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Erich Wolfgang Korngold was the son of a well-known music critic. A child prodigy, he accompanied his father in playing four-handed piano arrangements by the age of five. By the age of eleven he drew his first plaudits from enthusiastic Viennese audiences (including the emperor Franz Josef) with his ballet-pantomime "Der Schneeman" (The Snow Man). Two years later, he wrote a piano sonata which was performed by Artur Schnabel. Korngold composed his first orchestral piece at 14 and attracted the attention of Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler and many other prominent composers and conductors. In 1920, he conducted the Hamburg Opera performing his seminal work "Die tote Stadt" which became a huge international success. Thus embarked upon a promising career as a serious composer, Korngold was invited to the United States by Max Reinhardt to score A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) -- and decided to stay. He was certainly grateful for the chance to escape Adolf Hitler's annexation of Austria. In 1943, Korngold became an American citizen.
Korngold was the first composer of international renown to be signed by Hollywood despite having no prior experience with film music. His approach to the medium was predominantly theatrical and operatic (he once described Tosca as "the best film score ever written"). A master of technique, credited with "inventing" the syntax of orchestral film music, he composed at the piano with projectionists running reels at his behest. Often, he worked in conjunction with the orchestra of Hugo Friedhofer who became his closest collaborator. Under contract to Warner Brothers from 1935 to 1947, Korngold picked up Academy Awards for Anthony Adverse (1936) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). His stirring and string-laden scores were ideally suited for such high-octane Errol Flynn swashbucklers as Captain Blood (1935) and The Sea Hawk (1940). In the final analysis, other notable film composers, including even the great Max Steiner, admitted to being influenced by Korngold's work. His 1937 violin concerto which used various elements from his film music became one of the most prolifically performed classical concerts of the 20th century.
Korngold would have longed to resume his career as a serious composer. However, after the war ended, he found that the world of serious music had passed him by. In 1949, he returned to Vienna with his wife but found the city in ruins and much changed. A year later, disillusioned, he moved back to his home in the Toluca Lake district in North Hollywood. During the final ten years of his life he composed almost exclusively for concert halls. In 1956, he suffered a stroke which left him partially paralysed and he died a year later at the age of 60 from a heart attack.- Composer
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Academy Award-winning composer (score, Pinocchio (1940), conductor, songwriter ("When You Wish Upon a Star" [Academy award, Best Song, 1940) and arranger Leigh Harine was educated at the University of Utah. He was a music student of J. Spencer Cornwall. He arranged the first transcontinental broadcast from Los Angeles in 1932, and that year joined the Walt Disney Studios. From 1941 he freelanced among various Hollywood studios. He joined ASCAP in 1940. His other popular song compositions include "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee", "Give a Little Whistle" and "Jiminy Cricket".- Composer
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Paul J. Smith was the son of Joseph J. and Anna M. Smith of Caldwell, Idaho. Joseph J. Smith was the band director at the College of Idaho for many years and was penned by Idaho's former governor Robert Smylie as "The Father of Music" in the Boise Valley, as he taught all musical instruments.
My grandfathers talent and teaching skills was obviously passed on to his four son's, as all but one of them became well know and sought after composers and musicians in Los Angeles both before and after WWII. Paul J. Smith had one older brother, Jerome Smith, who although a talented woodwind player, became an electrical engineer in the 30's and worked for RCA as a lead engineer for his entire career. Paul J. Smith also had two younger brothers, Arthur Smith, a woodwind player and studio musician who was under contract with Universal Studios for many years before studio contracts were eliminated in the early 60's, after which he continued to work in all major studios (including Disney), and continued to be very active in the music business for many years to come. Paul J. Smith's youngest brother was George W. Smith, who was also a woodwind player, and was employed for many years as 1st chair clarinet for Columbia Studios, once again, until musicians contracts were cancelled in the 60's, at which point he continued to work in both the major studios (including Disney), as well as recording sessions with major vocal talents and jazz artists of the day. During the later years of his career, George performed with the Disneyland Band in Anaheim, being featured in the Dixieland Band and the Polka Band on clarinet and the Main Street Saxophone Quartet on Alto.
Overall, and impressive an unique accomplishment for the three musical talents from Caldwell Idaho.- Composer
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Academy Award-winning composer and songwriter ("Whistle While You Work", "Some Day My Prince Will Come"), and pianist, educated at the University of California. He was a pianist in film theatres, and then came to Hollywood under contract to Walt Disney. Joining ASCAP in 1938, his chief musical collaborators included Ann Ronell and Larry Morey. His other popular-song compositions include "I Bring You a Song", "Love Is a Song", "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", "Spring is in the Air", "Ain't Nature Grand?", "The Golden Youth", "Slow but Sure", "With a Smile and a Song", "I'm Wishing", "Heigh-Ho", "Happy as a Lark", "The Sunny Side of Things", "One Song", and "Baby Mine".- Music Department
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Robert B. Sherman was born just before Christmas in 1925 in New York City. Parents, Rosa & Al Sherman didn't know how they would pay the doctor and delivery costs. Fortunately, upon their arrival home from the hospital, Al discovered a large royalty check in the mail. Ironically, it was Al's song, "Save Your Sorrow", which saved the day and covered the bill. In 1928, younger brother, Richard M. Sherman, was born. Years later, brothers Robert and Richard would form one of the most prolific, lauded and long lasting songwriting partnerships of all time.
As a youth, Robert excelled in intellectual pursuits, taking up the violin and piano, painting and writing poetry. Following seven years of frequent cross-country moves, the Shermans finally settled down in Beverly Hills, California. Throughout Robert's years at Beverly Hills High School, he wrote and produced radio and stage programs for which he won much acclaim. At sixteen years old, Robert wrote a stage play, entitled "Armistice and Dedication Day", which earned thousands of dollars worth in War Bonds and garnered Sherman a special citation from the War Department.
In 1943, Robert obtained permission from his parents to join the army a year early, at only age 17. In early April, 1945, he inadvertently led half a squad of men into Dachau Concentration Camp, the first Allied troops to enter the camp after it had been evacuated by the fleeing German military only hours earlier. On April 12, 1945, the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt died, Robert was shot in the knee forcing him to walk with a cane ever since.
During his recuperation in Taunton and Bournemouth, England, Robert was awarded the Purple Heart medal. While still rehabilitating, Robert first became curious about British culture, reading voraciously anything he could find on the subject. Once on his feet, Robert met and became friends with many Brits, attaining first-hand knowledge of the United Kingdom, her customs and people. His fascination with England would later prove an invaluable resource to his songwriting career; many of his most well-known works centering around Anglo-themed stories and subject matter.
Upon his return to the United States, Robert attended Bard College in upstate New York where he majored in English Literature and Painting. At Bard, Robert completed his first two novels, entitled "The Best Estate" and "Music, Candy and Painted Eggs". He graduated in the class of 1949.
Within two years, Robert and his brother Richard began writing songs together on a challenge from their father. In 1953, Robert married the love of his life, Joyce Sasner, which helped to neutralize what had become Robert's wildly bohemian lifestyle in the years following the war. In 1958, Robert founded the music publishing company, "Music World Corporation", which later enjoyed a landmark relationship with Disney's BMI publishing arm, "Wonderland Music Company". That same year, the Sherman Brothers had their first "Top Ten" hit with "Tall Paul", sung by Mouseketeer, Annette Funicello. The success of this song yielded the attention of Walt Disney, who eventually hired the Sherman Brothers on as Staff Songwriters for Walt Disney Studios.
While at Disney, the Sherman Brothers wrote what is perhaps their most well-loved song: "It's a Small World (After All)" for the New York World's Fair in 1964. Since then, "Small World" has become the most translated and performed song on earth.
In 1965, the Sherman Brothers won 2 Academy Awards for Mary Poppins (1964), which includes the songs "Feed The Birds", "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and the Oscar winner, "Chim Chim Cher-ee". Since Mary Poppins (1964)'s motion picture premiere, the Sherman Brothers have subsequently earned 9 Academy Award nominations, 2 Grammy Awards, 4 Grammy Award nominations and an incredible 23 gold and platinum albums.
Robert and Richard worked directly for Walt Disney until Disney's death in 1966. Since leaving the company, the brother songwriting team has worked freelance on scores of motion pictures, television shows, theme park exhibits and stage musicals.
Their first non-Disney assignment came with Albert R. Broccoli's motion picture production Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) which garnered the brothers their third Academy Award Nomination.
In 1973, the Sherman Brothers made history by becoming the only Americans, ever, to win First Prize at the Moscow Film Festival for Tom Sawyer (1973), for which they also authored the screenplay.
The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella (1976), was picked to be the Royal Command Performance of the year and was attended by Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. A modern musical adaptation of the classic Cinderella story, "Slipper" also features both song-score and screenplay by the Sherman Brothers. That same year, the Sherman Brothers received their star on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame" directly across from the Chinese Theater.
Their numerous other Disney and Non-Disney top box office film credits include The Jungle Book (1967), The Aristocats (1970), The Parent Trap (1961), The Parent Trap (1998), Charlotte's Web (1973), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), Snoopy Come Home (1972), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) and Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989).
Outside of the motion picture realm, their Tony nominated smash hit, "Over Here!" (1974), was the biggest grossing original Broadway Musical of that year. The Sherman Brothers have also written numerous top selling songs including "You're Sixteen", which holds the distinction of reaching Billboard's #1 spot twice; first with Johnny Burnette in 1960 and, then, with Ringo Starr, fourteen years later. Other top-ten hits include, "Pineapple Princess", "Let's Get Together" and more.
In 2000, the Sherman Brothers wrote the song score for Disney's blockbuster film: The Tigger Movie (2000). This film marked the brothers' first major motion picture for the Disney company in over twenty eight years.
In 2002, "Chitty" hit the London stage receiving rave revues. By 2005, "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Stage Musical" broke records becoming the most successful stage show ever produced at the London Palladium, boasting the longest run in that century old theatre's history. In Spring 2005, a second "Chitty" company premiered on Broadway (New York City) at the Hilton Theatre. In each subsequent year, new touring companies were formed in the UK, USA and Singapore. The Sherman Brothers wrote an additional six songs specifically for the new stage productions.
In April 2002, an exhibition of Robert's paintings was held in London, England at Thompsons' Gallery on Marylebone High Street. This marked the first public exhibition of Robert's paintings, ever, which is amazing considering Robert had been painting since 1941. The London Exhibition was widely covered by TV, radio and printed press. Robert subsequently enjoyed a succession of successful art exhibitions in the United States with the sale of many Limited Edition giclée prints of his work.
In 2002, Sherman moved from Beverly Hills to London, England, where he continues to write and paint.
In 2003, four Sherman Brothers' musicals ranked in the "Top 10 Favorite Children's Films of All Time" in a (British) nationwide poll reported by the BBC. The Jungle Book (1967) ranked at #7, Mary Poppins (1964) ranked at #8, The Aristocats (1970) ranked at #9 and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) topped the list at #1.
In June 2005, The Sherman Brothers were inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame. Also, in June 2005, a tribute was paid to Robert B. Sherman at the Théâtre de Vevey in Switzerland by the Ballet Romand. "Chitty" will be commencing its full UK tour in December 2005.
The Disney/Cameron Mackintosh production of "Mary Poppins: The Stage Musical" made its world premier at the Prince Edward Theatre in December 2004 and features the Sherman Brothers classic songs. This show premiered on Broadway in 2006. In 2013, "Poppins" became the 22nd longest running musical or nonmusical show in Broadway history. Numerous touring companies have toured worldwide since 2008.
The Sherman Brothers were awarded the 2008 American National Medal of the Arts by President George W. Bush for their services to music. In 2009, a controversial documentary about the Sherman Brothers entitled, The Boys (2009) was produced by Sherman's older son, Jeffrey C. Sherman and brother Richard's son Gregory V. Sherman. In 2010 the Sherman Brothers were awarded a window on Main Street Disneyland. In 2011, the Sherman Brothers were each given honorary doctorates from their alma mater, Bard College. Sherman resided in London, England until his death on March 6, 2012.
His autobiography "Moose: Chapters From My Life" was posthumously released by AuthorHouse Publishers and was edited by Sherman's youngest son, Robert J. Sherman. The book's release happened at the same time as the major film release of Saving Mr. Banks (2013) in which Sherman and his brother are portrayed by B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman respectively.- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Richard Morton Sherman was born in the spring of 1928 in New York City to Rosa and Al Sherman. Together with his older brother, Robert B. Sherman, the Sherman brothers would follow in their songwriting father's footsteps to form one of the most prolific, lauded and long lasting songwriting partnerships of all time.
Richard was an enthusiastic and energetic child and youth, still bearing that trademark trait well into his seventies. Following seven years of frequent cross-country moves, the Shermans finally settled down in Beverly Hills, California in 1937. Throughout Richard's years at Beverly Hills High School and Bard College in upstate New York, he became fascinated with music and studied several instruments including the flute, piccolo and piano. At Bard, Richard majored in music and wrote numerous sonatas and "art songs" during his time there but it was Richard's ambition to write the "Great American Symphony" which eventually led him to write songs.
Within two years of graduating, Richard and his brother Robert began writing songs together on a challenge from their father. In 1957, Richard married Elizabeth Gluck with whom he had three children. In 1958, the Sherman brothers enjoyed their first hit with their song, "Tall Paul", sung by Mouseketeer Annette Funicello. The success of this song yielded the attention of Walt Disney, who eventually hired the Sherman brothers on as staff songwriters for Walt Disney Studios.
While at Disney, the Sherman brothers wrote what is perhaps their most well-loved song: "It's a Small World (After All)" for the New York World's Fair in 1964. Since then, "Small World" has become the most translated and performed song on earth.
In 1965, the Sherman brothers won 2 Academy Awards for Mary Poppins (1964), which includes the songs "Feed The Birds", "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and the Oscar winner, "Chim Chim Cher-ee". Since Mary Poppins (1964)' motion picture premiere, the Sherman brothers have subsequently earned nine Academy Award nominations, two Grammy Awards, four Grammy Award nominations, and an incredible 23 gold and platinum albums.
Robert and Richard worked directly for Walt Disney until his death in 1966. Since leaving the company, the brother songwriting team has worked freelance on scores of motion pictures, television shows, theme park exhibits and stage musicals. Their first non-Disney assignment came with Albert R. Broccoli's motion picture production Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), which garnered the brothers their third Academy Award nomination.
In 1973, the Sherman brothers made history by becoming the only Americans, ever, to win First Prize at the Moscow Film Festival for Tom Sawyer (1973). They also authored the screenplay for "Tom Sawyer".
In 1976, The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella (1976), was picked to be the Royal Command Performance of the year, and the event was attended by Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. A modern musical adaptation of the classic Cinderella story, "Slipper" also features both songscore and screenplay by the Sherman brothers. That same year, the Sherman brothers received their star on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame" directly across from Grauman's Chinese Theater. Their numerous other Disney and Non-Disney top box office film credits include The Jungle Book (1967), The Aristocats (1970), The Parent Trap (1961), Charlotte's Web (1973), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), Snoopy Come Home (1972), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), and Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989).
Outside the motion picture realm, their Tony-nominated smash hit, "Over Here!" (1974) was the biggest grossing original Broadway musical of that year. The Sherman brothers have also written numerous top selling songs including "You're Sixteen", which holds the distinction of reaching Billboard's #1 spot twice; first with Johnny Burnette in 1960 and, then, with Ringo Starr, fourteen years later. Other top-ten hits include "Pineapple Princess", "Let's Get Together", and more.
In 2000, the Sherman brothers wrote the song score for Disney's blockbuster film The Tigger Movie (2000). This film marked the brother's first major motion picture for the Disney company in over 28 years.
In 2002, "Chitty" hit the London stage and received rave revues. "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Stage Musical" is currently the most successful stage show ever produced at the London Palladium. In 2005, a second company will premiere on Broadway (New York City). The Sherman brothers wrote an additional six songs specifically for the new stage productions.
In 2003, four Sherman brothers' musicals ranked in the "Top 10 Favorite Children's Films of All Time" in a (British) nationwide poll reported by the BBC. The Jungle Book (1967) ranked at #7, Mary Poppins (1964) ranked at #8, The Aristocats (1970) ranked at #9 and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) topped the list at #1.
Richard Sherman resides in Beverly Hills, California with his wife, Elizabeth.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
In spite of the fact, that he only had been on a conservatory for only short time, he was a very successful popular composer, who wrote with lyricist and later producer Arthur Freed not only the songs for MGM musical and non-musical films, e.g. "Broadway Melody" for the movie "The Broadway Melody", "You Are My Lucky Star" and "Broadway Rhythm" for "Broadway Melody of 1936", "Temptation" for "Going Hollywood" and - best remembered - "Singin' in the Rain" from "The Hollywood Revue of 1929", which became a classic in the movie "Singin' in the Rain" in the version of Gene Kelly. He also worked with Richard A. Whiting and Buddy G. DeSylva on the Broadway Musical "Take a Chance."- Producer
- Music Department
- Actor
Producer, songwriter and author, brother to Ralph Freed, Walter and Ruth Freed. He was educated at the Phillips Exeter Academy, and became associated with Gus Edwards musical acts. He performed in vaudeville with Louis Silvers, with whom he wrote revues for New York restaurants. During World War I, he staged military shows, then managed a theatre, eventually producing his own musical shows, finally joining MGM under contract. His Academy Award winning films include An American in Paris (1951), _Gigi(1958)_ and Irving Thalberg Awards. In 1964, he became President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Joining ASCAP in 1924, his chief musical collaborator was Nacio Herb Brown, and also included Gus Arnheim, Al Hoffman and Harry Warren.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
The man behind the low woodwinds that open Citizen Kane (1941), the shrieking violins of Psycho (1960), and the plaintive saxophone of Taxi Driver (1976) was one of the most original and distinctive composers ever to work in film. He started early, winning a composition prize at the age of 13 and founding his own orchestra at the age of 20. After writing scores for Orson Welles's radio shows in the 1930s (including the notorious 1938 "The War of the Worlds" broadcast), he was the obvious choice to score Welles's film debut, Citizen Kane (1941), and, subsequently, The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), although he removed his name from the latter after additional music was added without his (or Welles's) consent when the film was mutilated by a panic-stricken studio. Herrmann was a prolific film composer, producing some of his most memorable work for Alfred Hitchcock, for whom he wrote nine scores. A notorious perfectionist and demanding (he once said that most directors didn't have a clue about music, and he blithely ignored their instructions--like Hitchcock's suggestion that Psycho (1960) have a jazz score and no music in the shower scene). He ended his partnership with Hitchcock after the latter rejected his score for Torn Curtain (1966) on studio advice. He was also an early experimenter in the sounds used in film scores, most famously The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), scored for two theremins, pianos, and a horn section; and was a consultant on the electronic sounds created by Oskar Sala on the mixtrautonium for The Birds (1963). His last score was for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and died just hours after recording it. He also wrote an opera, "Wuthering Heights", and a cantata, "Moby Dick".- Music Department
- Composer
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No American has written more first-rate songs than Arlen. He grew up in a musical family (his father was a cantor), and disappointed but didn't surprise his parents by dropping out of high school to become a musician. A stint as pianist and singer with a dance band, the Buffalodians, allowed him to escape Buffalo for New York City. Arlen stayed on after the band's demise; after some mostly unsuccessful attempts to conquer vaudeville or Broadway, Arlen stumbled onto a tune that, with lyrics by Ted Koehler, became "Get Happy", his first hit. With Koehler as lyricist, Arlen became the staff composer for Harlem's Cotton Club, a premiere showcase for African-American entertainers such as Cab Calloway and Ethel Waters. They wrote "I've Got the World on a String" and "Ill Wind", among dozens of others. Arlen's second important collaborator was E.Y. Harburg, with whom he composed the score for _Wizard of Oz, The (1939)_, celebrated specialty numbers for Bert Lahr and Groucho Marx, and two Broadway musicals. In the 1940s, Arlen reached the peak of his popularity with his third major partner, Johnny Mercer; most of their hits, such as "Blues in the Night", "My Shining Hour" and "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)", were written for the movies, as Hollywood replaced the stage as the songwriters' most lucrative market. As he aged, Arlen grew increasingly frustrated with Hollywood's waste of material and Broadway's rigmarole; his personal life in this period was also unhappy. His best songs, though, in renditions by performers li ke Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra and later cabaret singers and jazz musicians, have continued to be seen as classics.- Music Department
- Writer
- Composer
One of the great lyricists of American song, Edgar Yipsel Harburg (born Isidore Hochberg) grew up in the working-class Jewish ghetto of Manhattan's Lower East Side. In high school, he befriended Ira Gershwin, later his collaborator on student literary ventures at City College of New York; both also contributed to F.P. Adams' column in the daily New York World, the city's leading outlet for light verse. After graduation in 1917, during the wartime manpower shortage, Harburg landed a lucrative job in Uruguay with the Swift & Co. meat-packing firm. In 1920, he returned to New York, where he became a partner in an appliance business that thrived for most of the 1920s but failed around the time of the 1929 stock market crash. Harburg determined to make a living at lyric writing; Gershwin provided a $500 loan and an introduction to the composer Jay Gorney. They collaborated on songs for Broadway revues and a number that Helen Morgan sang in two early film musicals; in 1932, they wrote Harburg's breakthrough, the unemployment anthem "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" In that year, for Broadway shows opening a few days apart, Harburg wrote "April in Paris" (with Vernon Duke) and, with Harold Arlen, "It's Only a Paper Moon." For the next 12 years, for theater and movies, Arlen was Harburg's most important collaborator; the partnership peaked with The Wizard of Oz (1939). Although he contributed to a number of films in the 1940s, Harburg's best work in those years was for Broadway's "Bloomer Girl" (with Arlen) and, with Burton Lane, "Finian's Rainbow." Both shows featured Harburg's lyrical dexterity ("When I'm not facing the face that I fancy, I fancy the face I face") and social commentary (both shows satirized racism and capitalism). His liberalism led to Harburg's blacklisting by Hollywood in the 1950s, helping to ensure that "Finian" would not be filmed for decades. Harburg continued to write, with Jule Styne, Earl Robinson and others, into his eighties.- Composer
- Music Department
- Writer
Of Scottish and German ancestry, Herbert Stothart was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1885. At first, he was slated for a career as a teacher of history. However, he became enamored with music while singing in a school choir, and again, later, while attending the University of Wisconsin. There, he composed and conducted musicals for the Haresfoot Dramatic Club (the actor Otis Skinner was a noted alumnus). The success of one of these amateur productions, "Manicure Shop", which was staged professionally in Chicago, led to further musical studies in Europe, followed by full-time work as a composer for vaudeville and musical theatre.
In 1914, Stothart was hired by legendary lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II as musical director for the Rudolf Friml operetta "High Jinks". After three years on the road with various shows, Stothart scored his first Broadway musical, the farce "Furs and Frills", in October 1917. During the next decade, he continued a string of successful collaborations with top-flight composers, lyricists and playwrights, including Otto A. Harbach and Vincent Youmans. After 1922, Stothart's own original compositions began to be featured, and, within two years, he was able to celebrate his first major hit with the musical "Rose-Marie". "Rose-Marie" was written in conjunction with Rudolf Friml and ran for an impressive 557 performances at the Imperial Theatre. Stothart followed this success with the opera/ballet "Song of the Flame", co-written with George Gershwin. In 1929, the success of 'talking pictures', combined with the popularity of musicals, prompted studio boss Louis B. Mayer to lure Stothart to Hollywood.
Within just a few years, Stothart established himself as MGM's foremost film composer, working exclusively on the studio's prestige output. Many of his scores were for productions derived from literary classics, such as Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), The Good Earth (1937) and Pride and Prejudice (1940). Stothart's preferred musical style was subtle and melodic, sometimes mournful, often prominently featuring violins. He was prone to use leitmotifs from classical composers, for example in A Tale of Two Cities (1935) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) (Chopin), or Conquest (1937) and Waterloo Bridge (1940) (Tchaikovsky). In his dual capacity as musical director, Stothart also supervised or orchestrated almost all of the popular Nelson Eddy-Jeanette MacDonald operettas. He composed a number of songs, one of the best-known being the 'Donkey Serenade', sung by Allan Jones in The Firefly (1937). Most importantly, perhaps, he became the first composer at MGM to win an Academy Award for a musical score for The Wizard of Oz (1939).
Herbert Stothart spent his entire Hollywood career at MGM. In 1947, he suffered a heart attack while visiting Scotland, and, afterwards, composed an orchestral piece ('Heart Attack: A Symphonic Poem'), based on his tribulations. He worked on another ('The Voice of Liberation'), when he died two years later at the age of 63 from cancer of the spine. He is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Richard Markowitz was born on 3 September 1926 in Santa Monica, California, USA. He was a composer, known for Murder, She Wrote (1984), Mission: Impossible (1966) and The Law and Harry McGraw (1987). He died on 6 December 1994 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Versatile in many different musical fields, Leroy Shield started out as organist and pianist at the age of five. He made his professional début at 12 and at 15 became an arranger, composer and concert pianist. He accompanied opera singer Eva Gauthier during her American concert tours and pioneered the modernist composers Ravel, Milhaud, Holst, Baxt, and Casella. He won a scholarship in piano at Columbia Conservatory in Chicago and also studied at the University of Chicago. In 1923 he joined the staff of the Victor Talking Machine Company as pianist and ³musical director² of Victor recording sessions, first in New York and Camden, later in other parts of the country. In 1930 he became "Musical Director in charge of Hollywood, Calif., Activities" and it was in this capacity that he composed and oversaw the recording of background and effect music at the Hal Roach Studios, producers of the Laurel & Hardy, Our Gang, and other comedies. Most of these tracks, recorded during 1930 and 1931, were so successful that the studio kept recycling them, hence their considerable familiarity even today. His contributions to the films, however, were rarely credited. In 1931 Shield became Director of Music for NBC's Central division, residing in Chicago. He became a very important and busy figure in Chicago, arranging for and leading his orchestra in several musical radio shows. In 1933, 1935 and 1936 he briefly returned to California to record more music for the Hal Roach Studios. In 1945 he relocated once again, to New York, as contractor of NBC's Orchestra section. In this capacity he worked closely with conductor Arturo Toscanini, joining him on his nationwide concert tour in 1950. He retired in 1955.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
In his ongoing, decades-long career as a composer, Alan Silvestri has blazed an innovative trail with his exciting and melodic scores, winning the applause of Hollywood and movie audiences the world over. With a credit list of over 100 films Silvestri has composed some of the most recognizable and beloved themes in movie history. His efforts have been recognized with two Oscar nominations, two Golden Globe nominations, three Grammy awards, two Emmy awards, and numerous International Film Music Critics Awards, Saturn Awards, and Hollywood Music In Media Awards.
Born in New York City and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, Silvestri first dreamed of becoming a jazz guitar player. After spending two years at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, he hit the road as a performer and arranger. Landing in Hollywood at the age of 22, he found himself successfully composing the music for 1972's "The Doberman Gang" which established his place in the world of film composing.
The 1970s witnessed the rise of energetic synth-pop scores, establishing Silvestri as the action rhythmatist for TV's highway patrol hit "CHiPs." This action driven score caught the ear of a young filmmaker named Robert Zemeckis, whose hit film, 1984's "Romancing the Stone," was the perfect first date for the composer and director. It's success became the basis of a decades long collaboration that continues to this day. Their numerous collaborations have taken them through fascinating landscapes and stylistic variations, from the "Back to the Future" trilogy to the jazzy world of Toontown in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" the tension filled rooms of "What Lies Beneath" and "Death Becomes Her", to the cosmic wonder of "Contact;" the emotional isolation of "Castaway", to the magic of the "Polar Express". But perhaps no film collaboration defines their creative relationship better than Zemeckis' 1994 Best Picture winner, "Forrest Gump", for which Silvestri's gift for melodically beautiful themes earned him an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination and the affection of film music lovers everywhere. This 35 year, 21 film collaboration includes such recent films as "Flight", "Allied" and most recently "Welcome To Marwen". Zemeckis and Silvestri are currently working on "The Witches" based on Roald Dahl's 1973 classic book scheduled for release in October of 2020.
Though the Zemeckis/Silvestri collaboration is legendary, Silvestri has scored films of every imaginable style and genre. His energy has brought excitement and emotion to the hard-hitting orchestral scores for Steven Spielberg's "Ready Player One", James Cameron's "The Abyss" as well as "Predator" and "The Mummy Returns." Alan's diversity is on full display in family entertainment films such as "The Father of the Bride 1 and 2", "Parent Trap", "Stuart Little 1 and 2", Disney's "Lilo and Stitch", "The Croods" as well as "Night at the Museum 1, 2 and 3" while his passion for melody fuels the romantic emotion of films like "The Bodyguard" and "What Women Want".
Most recently, Alan has composed the music for Marvel's "Avengers: Endgame." The film is the culmination of a partnership with Marvel that began in 2011 with Alan's dynamically heroic score for "Captain America: The First Avenger" followed by "Avengers". Since 2011 Alan's collaboration with Marvel helped propel "The Avengers" and "Avengers: Infinity War" to spectacular world-wide success.
Silvestri's success has also crossed into the world of songwriting. His partnership with Six-Time Grammy Award winner Glen Ballard has produced hits such as the Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated song "Believe" (Josh Groban) for "The Polar Express", "Butterfly Fly Away" (Miley Cyrus) for "Hannah Montana The Movie", "God Bless Us Everyone" (Andrea Bocelli) for "A Christmas Carol" and "A Hero Comes Home" (Idina Menzel) for "Beowulf".
Alan and his wife Sandra are long time residents of California's central coast. In 1998 the Silvestri family embarked on a new venture as the founders of Silvestri Vineyards. Their wines show that lovingly cultivated fruit has a music all its own. "There's something about the elemental side of winemaking that appeals to me," he says. "Both music making and wine making involve a magical blending of art and science. Just as each note brings it own voice to the melody, each vine brings it's own unique personality to the wine."
Their other great passion is the ongoing search for the cure to Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes. With the diagnosis of their son at two years of age (now 29) they continue to work the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and dream of the day this disease (and all of the suffering it brings to so many) will finally become a thing of the past.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Vic Mizzy was born on 9 January 1916 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for The Addams Family (1964), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) and Deliver Us from Evil (2014). He died on 17 October 2009 in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Composer
- Music Department
- Additional Crew
Allyn Ferguson was born on 18 October 1924 in San Jose, California, USA. He was a composer, known for Dune (1984), Charlie's Angels (2000) and Charlie's Angels (2019). He was married to Joline Clary. He died on 23 June 2010 in Westlake Village, California, USA.- Music Department
- Composer
- Additional Crew
To say that Jack Elliott was a versatile and talented musical composer, arranger and producer would be an understatement. Blessed with an acclaimed career spanning nearly four decades, his name has become synonymous with music in virtually every medium - from live performances to film to television and recorded music. Elliott was co-founder and music director of the American Jazz Philharmonic (formerly the New American Orchestra) and creator of the Henry Mancini Institute. His professional repertoire is diverse and accomplished, highlighted by stints as music director for the Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Kennedy Center Honors and the 1984 Summer Olympics. In addition, he holds the distinction of serving as music director of the Grammy Awards for 30 consecutive years.
He had an accomplished career in film, scoring numerous hit movies, including Sibling Rivalry (1990), The Jerk (1979), Oh, God! (1977) and Where's Poppa? (1970). He also produced the Blade Runner (1982) soundtrack album with the New American Orchestra.
His musical journey began after graduation from the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music. He continued his post-graduate studies in composition with Arnold Franchetti, Isadore Freed, Bohuslav Martinu and Lukas Foss, but it was Judy Garland who brought Elliott to California to become an arranger for her television show.
Elliott continued his run in television as music director for Andy Williams' long running series and later produced and conducted the NBC television special Live from Studio 8H: 100 Years of America's Popular Music (1981). Fans of the hit series Night Court (1984), Barney Miller (1975) and Charlie's Angels (1976) are well-acquainted with his music for television. He is listed in New Grove's Dictionary of American Music and was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music.
He served as Music Director of the Henry Mancini Institute until his untimely passing in August 2001.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, Carmine Coppola, was a composer and musician. His mother, Italia Coppola (née Pennino), had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated with a degree in drama from Hofstra University, and did graduate work at UCLA in filmmaking. He was training as assistant with filmmaker Roger Corman, working in such capacities as sound-man, dialogue director, associate producer and, eventually, director of Dementia 13 (1963), Coppola's first feature film. During the next four years, Coppola was involved in a variety of script collaborations, including writing an adaptation of "This Property is Condemned" by Tennessee Williams (with Fred Coe and Edith Sommer), and screenplays for Is Paris Burning? (1966) and Patton (1970), the film for which Coppola won a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award. In 1966, Coppola's 2nd film brought him critical acclaim and a Master of Fine Arts degree. In 1969, Coppola and George Lucas established American Zoetrope, an independent film production company based in San Francisco. The company's first project was THX 1138 (1971), produced by Coppola and directed by Lucas. Coppola also produced the second film that Lucas directed, American Graffiti (1973), in 1973. This movie got five Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. In 1971, Coppola's film The Godfather (1972) became one of the highest-grossing movies in history and brought him an Oscar for writing the screenplay with Mario Puzo The film was a Best Picture Academy Award-winner, and also brought Coppola a Best Director Oscar nomination. Following his work on the screenplay for The Great Gatsby (1974), Coppola's next film was The Conversation (1974), which was honored with the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and brought Coppola Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay Oscar nominations. Also released that year, The Godfather Part II (1974), rivaled the success of The Godfather (1972), and won six Academy Awards, bringing Coppola Oscars as a producer, director and writer. Coppola then began work on his most ambitious film, Apocalypse Now (1979), a Vietnam War epic that was inspired by Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1993). Released in 1979, the acclaimed film won a Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and two Academy Awards. Also that year, Coppola executive produced the hit The Black Stallion (1979). With George Lucas, Coppola executive produced Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980), directed by Akira Kurosawa, and Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), directed by Paul Schrader and based on the life and writings of Yukio Mishima. Coppola also executive produced such films as The Escape Artist (1982), Hammett (1982) The Black Stallion Returns (1983), Barfly (1987), Wind (1992), The Secret Garden (1993), etc.
He helped to make a star of his nephew, Nicolas Cage. Personal tragedy hit in 1986 when his son Gio died in a boating accident. Francis Ford Coppola is one of America's most erratic, energetic and controversial filmmakers.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Composer, conductor, arranger and flautist, educated at the Manhattan School of Music (BA, MA) and Juilliard (on scholarship) (MM). He was first flautist for Radio City Music Hall from 1934 to 1936, the Detroit Symphony from 1936 to 1941, the NBC Toscanini Orchestra from 1942 to 1948 and staff arranger for Radio City Music Hall from 1948 to 1956, and the opera conductor for the Brooklyn Academy of Music from 1948 to 1955.
He was music director for the Broadway stage production of "Once Upon a Mattress" and the touring companies of "Kismet" and "La Plume de Ma Tante". He joined ASCAP in 1952.- Music Department
- Writer
- Composer
John Howard Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York, to mother Milton Jean (Carter) and father Howard Ralph Carpenter. His family moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where his father, a professor, was head of the music department at Western Kentucky University. He attended Western Kentucky University and then USC film school in Los Angeles. He began making short films in 1962, and won an Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Subject in 1970, for The Resurrection of Broncho Billy (1970), which he made while at USC. Carpenter formed a band in the mid-1970s called The Coupe de Villes, which included future directors Tommy Lee Wallace and Nick Castle. Since the 1970s, he has had numerous roles in the film industry including writer, actor, composer, producer, and director. After directing Dark Star (1974), he has helmed both classic horror films like Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), and The Thing (1982), and noted sci-fi tales like Escape from New York (1981) and Starman (1984).- Music Department
- Composer
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Alfred Newman is an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music.
From his start as a music prodigy, he came to be regarded as a respected figure in the history of film music. He won nine Academy Awards and was nominated 45 times, contributing to the Newmans being the most nominated Academy Award extended family, with a collective 92 nominations in various music categories.
In a career spanning more than four decades, Newman composed the scores for over 200 motion pictures. Some of his most famous scores include All About Eve (1950), Anastasia (1956), Wuthering Heights (1939), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), The Mark of Zorro (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Song of Bernadette (1943), Captain from Castile (1947), Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), How the West Was Won (1962), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and his final score, Airport (1970), all of which were nominated for or won Academy Awards. He is perhaps best known for composing the fanfare which accompanies the studio logo at the beginning of 20th Century Fox's productions.
Newman was highly regarded as a conductor, and arranged and conducted many scores by other composers, including George Gershwin, Charles Chaplin, and Irving Berlin. He also conducted the music for many film adaptations of Broadway musicals (having worked on Broadway for ten years before coming to Hollywood), as well as many original Hollywood musicals.
He was among the first musicians to compose and conduct original music during Hollywood's Golden Age of movies, later becoming a respected and powerful music director in the history of Hollywood.- Music Department
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Composer, songwriter ("The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"), author and pianist, educated at the Cincinnati College and Conservatory. He was a test pilot at Wright Field. After three years as accompanist to Harry Richman in vaudeville, he was featured in English music halls, and later throughout the world. He wrote the Broadway stage scores for "Piggy" and "George White's Scandals of 1929", and songs for "Bombo" and "The Passing Show of 1921". Joining ASCAP in 1922, his chief musical collaborators were Lew Brown, Sidney Clare, Billy Rose, Irving Caesar, Dave Franklin, Abel Baer, and Charles Tobias. His other popular-song compositions include "Oo-oo Ernest", "You Tell Her, I Stutter", Lovesick Blues", "Blue Hoosier Blues", "June Night", "Mama Loves Papa", "There's 'Yes Yes' in Your Eyes", "Big Butter and Egg Man", "Then I'll Be Happy", "Where the Lazy Daisies Grow", "Give Me a Night in June", "When the Pussywillow Whispers to the Catnip", "My Blackbirds are Bluebirds", "Freddie the Freshman", "Bigger and Better han Ever", "Bottoms Up", "The Broken Record", "When My Dreamboat Comes Home", "Wah-hoo", "You Can't Stop Me From Dreaming", "Tamiami Trail", "I Must See Annie Tonight", "Trade Winds", "We Did It Before, and We Can Do It Again", "Don't Sweetheart Me", "You Missed the Boat", and "Time Waits for No One".- Composer
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Tin Pan Alley lyricist and composer, best remembered for co-writing the Looney Tunes theme song "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" in collaboration with Cliff Friend. Franklin became an accomplished professional pianist by the age of thirteen, employed by various New York publishing houses. He later worked as an accompanist in vaudeville and eventually freelanced as a solo performer in nightclubs on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1934 he joined ASCAP and began writing songs for big bands (including Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians and Isham Jones) as well as for Warner Brothers cartoons. In tandem with Cliff Friend, he went on to provide catchy numbers for many of the early Porky Pig and Daffy Duck shorts. Notable compositions include "You Can't Stop Me from Dreaming" (twelve weeks at number 1 on the Lucky Strikes Cigarette Hit Parade Radio Show in 1937), "Anniversary Waltz" (a number one hit for Decca in 1947), "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" and "Floating on a Bubble".- Music Department
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American lyricist, songwriter, radio pioneer and music publisher. His brothers, Harry and Henry, were also active in the music business. Tobias began as a singer in vaudeville. In 1923, he set up his own publishing firm and began to work in Tin Pan Alley. He contributed scores and songs to several important Broadway shows, including Earl Carroll's Vanities. His biggest success was "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" (a massive hit for the The Andrews Sisters in 1942-43). Tobias is perhaps best remembered for co-writing (with Murray Mencher and Eddie Cantor) the Merry Melodies theme song "Merrily We Roll Along". His other notable songs include "Trade Winds", "The Old Lamplighter", "Two Tickets to Georgia" and "Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer". A former President of the American Guild of Author and Composers, Tobias was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.- Music Department
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American pianist, lyricist and songwriter, chiefly remembered for co-writing the Merrie Melodies theme song "Merrily We Roll Along" (with Charles Tobias and Eddie Cantor). Mencher began his career in vaudeville and later worked as a pianist and staff composer for several music publishing houses. From the early 1930's, he wrote songs for McKinney's Cotton Pickers, Jimmie Lunceford and other jazz bands. He also provided scores for such Broadway shows as "Earl Carroll's Sketch Book" (1935) and for night club revues in New York and Miami. Some of his best known compositions, including "On the Bumpy Road to Love", "Flowers for Madame", "Alice in Wonderland", "You're the Dream" and "Let's Swing It", featured in Warner Brothers and MGM cartoons of the 1930's and 40's.- Actor
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Singer, songwriter ("Merrily We Roll Along"), comedian, author and actor, educated in public schools. He made his first public appearance in Vaudeville in 1907 at New York's Clinton Music Hall, then became a member of the Gus Edwards Gang, later touring vaudeville with Lila Lee as the team Cantor & Lee. He made Broadway stage appearances in "Canary Cottage," "Broadway Brevities of 1920," "Make It Snappy," "Kid Boots," "Whoopee," "Banjo Eyes," and the Ziegfeld Follies of 1917, 1918, 1919 and 1927. He had his own radio program in the 1930s, appeared often on television in the 1950s, and made many records. Joining ASCAP in 1951, and his popular-song compositions also include "Get a Little Fun Out of Life," "It's Great to Be Alive," and "The Old Stage Door." Eddie Cantor also wrote the books "Ziegfeld, the Great Glorifier" and "As I Remember Them," and the autobiographies "My Life Is In Your Hands" and "Take My Life."- Composer
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George Aliceson Tipton was born on 23 January 1932. He was a composer, known for The Golden Girls (1985), Badlands (1973) and Phantom of the Paradise (1974). He died on 12 February 2016 in the USA.- Music Department
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Known for timeless classics such as "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy Days and Mondays," "Evergreen," "Just an Old Fashioned Love Song," and "Rainbow Connection," Paul Williams is responsible for what will remain part of our popular culture for many years to come. His music has been recorded by some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry.
Three Dog Night's versions of "Just an Old Fashioned Love Song," "Out in the Country," and "Family of Man" have sold millions of copies, worldwide. Karen Carpenter's rich vocals made "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy Days and Mondays," "Let Me Be the One," and "I Won't Last a Day Without You," a part of our lives. Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, Willie Nelson, Kermit the Frog and Luther Vandross are among the hundreds of artists who have recorded Paul's songs.
Neal McCoy recently recorded Paul's "Party On," while Diamond Rio recorded and took "You're Gone" to the top of the charts. The video for "You're Gone" became Pick of the Week on Country Music Television. In 1997, Paul went back into the recording studio and recorded his CD, "Back to Love Again," which includes remakes of some of Paul's more classic hits such as "Rainbow Connection" and "I Won't Last a Day Without You," as well as new songs which contain the same quality, passion and depth that was heard and felt in his hits from the past. Richard Carpenter and Graham Nash appear as guest artists on the album, bringing to it a richness and a quality all its own. Critics, fans and the most famous in the music industry have all had positive reactions and reviews to the album.
No one sings a song like the songwriter who wrote it, and the same holds true for Paul's music. No one captures the emotion within the songs the way he can and does time and time again. Paul is one of the most celebrated songwriters of our time having won Academy, Grammy and Golden Globe Awards. His most recent accomplishments include his induction into the American Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Paul's reputation as a motion picture songwriter took hold in 1973, with an Academy Award nomination for "Nice to Be Around" (co-written with John Williams) from Cinderella Liberty (1973). 1975 brought Paul's second nomination for the soundtrack from Brian De Palma's cult classic, Phantom of the Paradise (1974). He not only wrote the words and music and produced the album for the rock cantata, but also held the audience captive with his devious portrayal of the evil Swan.
Paul went on to become the Music Supervisor for A Star Is Born (1976), bringing with it the challenge of working with three different composers to produce its award-winning score. Williams and Kenny Ascher won a Golden Globe Award for "Best Motion Picture Score." "Evergreen," co-written with Barbra Streisand, won the 1976 Oscar for "Best Song of the Year." In 1980, Paul was once again nominated by the Academy for the score from the box office smash hit, The Muppet Movie (1979), for "Best Original Score" as well as the song "Rainbow Connection" being nominated for "Best Song." "The Muppet Movie" soundtrack went on to win two Grammy Awards and became the biggest soundtrack album of the year, exceeding sales of one million units. Paul reunited with Henson Productions for the Disney feature film, The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). He wrote and produced the songs for the soundtrack which brought with it yet another Grammy Award nomination for "Best Musical Album for Children."
Paul's other film credits include the songs and score for Bugsy Malone (1976), which starred Jodie Foster and Scott Baio. "Bugsy Malone" continues to be a favorite of children's playhouses and theaters, worldwide. He co-wrote the title song for "Flying Dreams" from The Secret of NIMH (1982), which was recently recorded as a duet by Kenny Loggins and Olivia Newton-John, and has written songs for The End (1978), Rocky IV (1985) and Ishtar (1987). Paul collaborated with Jerry Goldsmith on the title song for The Sum of All Fears (2002). The song is featured in the beginning of the movie with a Latin translation and again at the end in English, performed by Electra recording artist, Yolanda Adams. This may very well be the first time in entertainment history where a song has been presented in a film in two different languages. Paul Williams began his career as an actor with his portrayal of a 12-year-old prodigy in The Loved One (1965), playing opposite Jonathan Winters. He is probably best-known for his roles as Little Enos in the "Smokey and the Bandit" movies, as well as the orangutan Virgil in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973).
In 1995, Paul received stellar reviews for his starring role as a wheelchair-bound hostage in Headless Body in Topless Bar (1995). Paul is also remembered for his roles in Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991), People Like Us (1990) (the NBC miniseries based on the Dominick Dunne bestseller), as the fun-loving amphibian Gus in Frog (1988) and Frogs! (1993) and Freddie the Bomb in Solar Crisis (1990). He rarely passes up the opportunity to return to his early roots of acting and played an emergency room doctor in Roger Avary's The Rules of Attraction (2002). Paul is no stranger to the small screen. He has appeared on Picket Fences (1992), Dream On (1990), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show (1997), Boston Common (1996), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993) and The Bold and the Beautiful (1987).
Many people are unaware that Paul has provided voice-overs for countless animated series, some of which include his role as the Penguin in Batman: The Animated Series (1992), and his recurring appearances in Phantom 2040 (1994). Having obtained his certification from UCLA as a drug and alcohol counselor, Paul is very active on the speaker's circuit across the country. Speaking from his personal experiences with his own addiction and the knowledge that he gained through his education and his experience as a counselor, Paul continues to touch the lives and hearts of many people whose lives have been affected by drug abuse and/or alcoholism. He is actively involved with the Musician's Assistance Program and is on the Board of Directors for Community High School, a sober high school in Nashville, Tennessee which offers the teens assistance with their recovery as well as the education that they both strive for and deserve.
Paul has appeared on Prime Time Country (1996), The Geraldo Rivera Show (1987) and Primetime (1989), talking about the devastating effects of drugs and alcohol and the increased use of them amongst teens and pre-teens. Paul has been presented with the Global Arts Award from the Friendly House for his efforts on their behalf, the Spirit of Youth Award from the Pacific Boys Lodge for his efforts and contributions and the "Celebration of Hope" award given to him by Hazelden for his overall contribution in the recovery field. Recovery is not simply a field that Paul is active in, it is one that he is passionate about... this is just one way in which Paul gives of himself to others.- Composer
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Rachel Elkind was born on 23 February 1939 in San Francisco, California, USA. She is a composer, known for Ready Player One (2018), The Shining (1980) and Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (2006).- Composer
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Wendy Carlos, one of the great innovators in synthesized and electronic music, was born as Walter Carlos in Rhode Island on November 14, 1939. She underwent a sex-change operation in 1972, details of which she revealed during a surprise Playboy interview in 1979. Walter's last credited release is "Sonic Seasonings" (1972). Wendy's first credited release is the "Tron" soundtrack (1982), which was released on CD in 2002.- Composer
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Mike Oldfield was born on 15 May 1953 in Reading, Berkshire, England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for The Killing Fields (1984), Weird Science (1985) and The Exorcist (1973).- Music Department
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Elmer Bernstein was educated at the Walden School and New York University. He served in the US Army Air Corps in World War II, writing scores for the service radio unit. He also wrote and arranged musical numbers for Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band. A prolific and respected film music composer, he was a protégé of Aaron Copland, who studied music with Roger Sessions and Stefan Wolpe. Bernstein worked in various artistic endeavors, including painting and the theatre and also performed as an actor and dancer. Among his early composition work were scores for United Nations radio programs and television and industrial documentaries. His original scores for films range over an enormous variety of styles, with his groundbreaking jazz score for The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), light musical comedies such as his Oscar-winning Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) score, and perhaps his most familiar score, for the western The Magnificent Seven (1960). Between 1963 and 1969, Bernstein served as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
A few years before before his death, he acquired something of a cult status among fans of English football when his familiar main theme for The Great Escape (1963) was adopted by them and hummed and played, lustily, during matches.- Music Department
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Charles Gounod was born on 17 June 1818 in Paris, France. He was a composer, known for Chronicle (2012), The American (2010) and 28 Days Later (2002). He was married to Anna Zimmermann. He died on 18 October 1893 in Saint-Cloud, Seine-et-Oise [now Hauts-de-Seine], France.- Music Department
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Romanian-born, Paris-based avant-garde composer and conductor, a student of Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen. His "Étrange No. 3" and "Milieu No. 2" (for electric guitar, bongo, saxophone and French horns) were famously spliced together to create the iconic theme for Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone (1959). The pieces were originally commissioned by CBS orchestrator Lud Gluskin in the late 1950's. They remained unused until the second season of the "Twilight Zone" when they were employed as a replacement for Bernard Herrmann's rather more subtle original theme, a combination of strings, harp, flute and brass (which CBS considered as 'too downbeat'). Since the company had acquired all rights to Constant's work, he received neither screen credit nor royalties. It was not until much later that he came to realize the amazing popular success of the pieces he had sold 'for a few hundred dollars' to the CBS Music Library.
Constant's other compositions include "24 Preludes for Orchestra" (1959), a Piano Concerto (1957), a "Symphony for Winds" (1978), ballets, jazz, and improvisational music. Also a noted conductor, he served as musical director for Roland Petit's Paris Ballet (1956-66) and the Paris Opera Ballet (1973-78). He was awarded the title of Commandeur Légion d'honneur and inducted into the Académie des beaux-arts in December 1992.- Music Department
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Dominic Carmen Frontiere, 86, Emmy and Golden Globe winning film and television composer, former head of music at Paramount Pictures, passed away in Tesuque, New Mexico on 21 December 2017. He is survived by his wife Robin and their children Emily, Joseph, Nicholas and Sofia, as well as daughter Victoria from a previous marriage.- Music Department
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Born in the Bronx, 1940. Graduated High School of Music & Art in New York, then studied composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.
Before moving to Hollywood, wrote and played Latin music for Salsa legends including Tito Puente, Ray Baretto and Joe Quijano.
In addition to composing over 100 movie scores (including Barbarella and 9-5) and TV themes (Happy Days & Love Boat), Fox wrote the music for many popular songs including "Killing Me Softly With His Song" (Grammy/Roberta Flack-Fugees), "I Got A Name" (Jim Croce), Richard's Window (Olivia Newton John/Oscar Nomination) & "Ready To Take A Chance Again" (Oscar Nomination/Barry Manilow).
Classical compositions include 3 full length ballets: "Song For Dead Warriors" (San Franciso Ballet Company, 1979) , "Zorro" (Smuin Ballet, 2003) and "Salsa Til Dawn" (Smuin ballet 2024). Other larger classical works include: "Lament & Prayer" (Warsaw Opera House/2008), "Fantasie-Homage To Chopin" (Gdansk, Poland/Chopin Festival 2010) and "Clarinet Quintet" (Santa Fe Opera House / 2015).
In addition to winning 2 Emmys, a Grammy & 2 Oscar Nominations, he was given BMI's Richard Kirk Career Achievement Award in 1992 and inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2004. Fox served as a Board of Governor for the Academy's music branch from 2008-2016, and was re-elected in 2022. Charles will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame April 2024.
Charles' memoirs "Killing Me Softly: My Life In Music", chronicling his composing career and centering on his 3 years studying with Nadia Boulanger, was released by Scarecrow Press in the Fall of 2010.
In 2019, for HBO's documentary "The Bronx, USA", Fox & Paul Williams wrote the title song called "Da' Bronx" which is sung live on the Bronx streets by Robert Klein and Hamilton star Donald Webber Jr. They were nominated for a Hollywood Music Media Award.
Fox has recently returned to his early roots of Latin music-- with a series of concerts in Havana, all original Cuban music, which are featured in a new documentary called Killing Me Softly with His Songs (2022), directed by Danny Gold.
The documentary chronicles Fox's 60 year journey writing music and will be released on Apple and other streaming devices April 2024.- Music Department
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Composer Laurence Rosenthal was born in Detroit, Michigan. He studied piano and composition at the Eastman School of Music and later with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. His symphonic compositions have been premiered by Leonard Bernstein with the New York Philarmonic, among others. He has composed extensively for films and television. He has been nominated for two Oscars. Among his best-known film scores are A Raisin in the Sun (1961), The Miracle Worker (1962), Becket (1964), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977), The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976) and Peter Brook's Meetings with Remarkable Men (1979). He has won seven Emmys for miniseries, including Peter the Great (1986) and Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986), as well as for episodes of George Lucas's The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992).- Composer
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Franck Pourcel was his real name: last name originally from Italy, first name a tribute to the composer, César Franck. He was born in Marseilles on August 11, 1913. His father was a technician but also a musician in the Navy in Marseilles. At six years old, he began learning music and his father sent him to study the violin at the Conservatoire de Marseilles, and drums, too, because he loved jazz. Then, he went to the Conservatoire in Paris. He then came back to Marseilles where he worked in theaters, one of them the Opera, and, at night, he played drums in nightclubs. This explains, how, later, his orchestrations were based on strings and percussions.
During that period, Franck was the musical director of some singers, among them Yves Montand, and he was hired for 3 months by Bruno Coquatrix, the future manager of the Olympia de Paris, to be the conductor of the famous singer Lucienne Boyer; in fact he stayed 8 years and toured the world with her.
But he always had a dream: his own orchestra, which could freely express his musical feelings. He always worked toward this dream, but between the dream and the reality, it was very difficult: records companies were not keen on hiring 50 musicians! "At that time, creating an orchestra with 50 musicians sounded nuts, but I wanted it. After many refusals, I moved to United States."
In 1953, first recording: Blue Tango and the follow up Limelight produced by Maurice Teze in France.
People took him immediately for an American, super quality label at that time, and instantly he became famous. It was the start of his long career, and all the French singers were eager to be accompanied by the American: Charles Aznavour, Tino Rossi, Gloria Lasso, Gilbert Bécaud, Yves Montand, Charles Trenet, Danielle Darrieux and, later, George Chakiris from West Side Story (1961). Between 1954 and 1957, he kept recording: 9 LPs in 3 years. He created the series, "Amour Danse et Violons", which include 54 LPs.
But the Americans had kept an eye on him, and he went back to Hollywood at Capitol to record albums dedicated to the American market, like Our Paris, French Touch, French Sax, French Wine-Drinking music and La Femme (composed by Les Baxter) with its graceful and scandalous nude cover. He became Franck Pourcel and the French Fiddlers, Franck Pourcel and his Parisians strings, or The Rockin' strings Orchestra In 1959, he recorded Only You, 2 years after the fantastic success of the title by The Platters. But arranging it à la Franck Pourcel he gave it a second youth. He sold more than 3 million copies, stayed on the Billboard charts for 16 weeks, and became the first European orchestra leader to sell more than 1 million records in the US.
In 1958, he recorded an LP with the Viennese's Waltzes, and then decided to lead his Variety public to the discovery and appreciation of popular classical pieces. With his Pages Celebres he leds the sale of EMI Classics, but he felt no special vanity from this, for he considered himself in the service of music. He recorded 17 LPs with the most famous classical orchestras like the London Symphony Orchestra, The London Philharmonic, The Lamoureux Orchestra, The BBC Orchestra. In 1979, following the evolution of the recording techniques, the series came to be called Classics in Digital.
A few of his musicians started a career on their own. Michel Legrand played piano, when he was young. In his orchestra he also had Raymond Lefebvre, Paul Mauriat and Jean-Claude Casadesus, at that time playing percussions in his classical recordings.
Between 1956 and 1972, he was the regular conductor for France at the Eurovision song contest, and he toured a lot in Japan, USA, South America, and appears on TV-show specials, all around the world.
His records have been exported to 58 countries. In 1975, Franck was asked by Air France to compose the Anthem for the new supersonic Concorde, because he was considered one of the 3 most exported French product with Brigitte Bardot and Air France.
He has composed some songs that he recorded, but rarely, because he did not liked his own compositions. The most famous, Chariot, started like a joke. It was composed with his friends, Paul Mauriat and Raymond Lefebvre, with lyrics by Jacques Plante. At that time, in 1962, everything coming from the US was striking gold, so they invented a story that the song was the soundtrack of a new western movie produced by 20th Century Fox: You'll never See It. Petula Clark sung the song and had a hit. In the USA, the song was recorded as "I Will Follow Him" by Little Peggy March, a fifteen-years-old singer, became number 1 in the Billboard charts all categories for 3 weeks, and, in 1992, the song became the main theme for Sister Act (1992) and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), with Whoopi Goldberg. More recently, Eminem included some bars in his song, "Guilty Conscience".
From 1968, Franck worked with Claude-Michel Schonberg (now the composer of the Musicals "Les Miserables and Miss Saigon") then artistic director at Pathe-marconi EMI records. A personal and professional relationship started and Franck produced Claude-Michel's big hit Le Premier Pas and the following albums.
A show-biz star, against all odds, concerts all over the world, around 200 LPs recorded, more than 3000 titles in his repertoire, this was Franck Pourcel.- Music Department
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Dimitri Tiomkin was a Russian Jewish composer who emigrated to America and became one of the most distinguished and best-loved music writers of Hollywood. He won a hallowed place in the pantheon of the most successful and productive composers in American film history, earning himself four Oscars and sixteen Academy Awards nominations. He was born Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin on May 10, 1894, in Kremenchug, Russia. His mother, Marie (nee Tartakovsky), was a Russian pianist and teacher. His father, Zinovi Tiomkin, was a renowned medical doctor. His uncle, rabbi Vladimir Tiomkin, was the first President of the World Zionist Union. Young Dimitri began his music studies under the tutelage of his mother. Then, at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, he studied piano under Felix Blumenfeld and Isabelle Vengerova. He also studied composition under the conservatory's director, Aleksandr Glazunov, who appreciated Tiomkin's talent and hired him as a piano tutor for his niece. Soon Dimitri appeared on Russian stages as a child pianist prodigy and continued to develop into a virtuoso pianist. Like other intellectuals in St. Petersburg, Tiomkin frequented the club near the Opera, called Stray Dog Café, where Russian celebrities, including directors Vsevolod Meyerhold and Nicolas Evreinoff, writers Boris Pasternak, Aleksei Tolstoy, Sergei Esenin, Anna Akhmatova, Nikolai Gumilev and Vladimir Mayakovsky, had their bohemian hangout. There Tiomlkin could be seen with his two friends, composer Sergei Prokofiev and choreographer Mikhail Fokin. At that time he also gained exposure and a keen interest in American music, including the works of Irving Berlin, ragtime, blues, and early jazz. Tiomkin started his music career as a piano accompanist for Russian and French silent films in movie houses of St. Petersburg. When the famous comedian Max Linder toured in Russia, he hired Tiomkin to play piano improvisations for the Max Linder Show, and their collaboration was successful. He also provided classical piano accompaniment for the famous ballerina Tamara Karsavina. However, the 1917 Communist Revolution in Russia caused dramatic political and economic changes. From 1917 to 1921 Tiomkin was a Red Army staff composer, writing scores for revolutionary mass spectacles at the Palace Square involving 500 musicians and 8000 extras, such as "The Storming of the Winter Palace" staged by Vsevolod Meyerhold and Nikolai Yevreinov for the third anniversary of the Communist Revolution. In 1921 Tiomkin emigrated from Russia and moved to Berlin to join his father, who was working with the famous German biochemist Paul Ehrlich. In Berlin Tiomkin had several study sessions with Ferruccio Busoni and his circle. By 1922 Dimitri was well known for his concert appearances in Germany, often with the Berlin Philharmonic. Among his repertoire were pieces written for him by other composers. He also concertized in France. There, in Paris, Feodor Chaliapin Sr. convinced Tiomkin to emigrate to the United States. In 1925 Tiomkin got his first gig in New York: he became the main pianist for a Broadway dance studio. There he met and soon married the principal dancer/choreographer, Albertina Rasch. He also met composers George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Jerome Kern. In 1928 Tiomkin made a concert tour of Europe, introducing the works of Gershwin to audiences there. He gave the French premiere of Gershwin's "Piano Concerto in F" at the famed "L'Opera de Paris." His Hollywood debut came in 1929, when MGM offered him a contract to score music for five films. His wife got a position as an assistant choreographer for some musical films. He also scored a Universal Pictures film, performed concerts in New York City and continued composing ballet music for his wife's dance work. He also continued writing American popular music and songs. He received further Broadway exposure with the Shuberts and Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.. He produced his own play "Keeping Expenses Down," but it was a flop amidst the gloom of the Big Depression, and he once again returned to Hollywood in 1933. When he came back he was on his own. By that time Tiomkin was disillusioned with the intrigue and politics inside the Hollywood studio system. He already knew the true value of his musical talent, and chose to freelance with the studios rather than accepting a multi-picture contract. He became something of a crusader, pushing for better pay and residuals. His independent personality was reflected in his music and business life: he was never under a long-term studio contract. Though MGM was the first to be acquainted with his services, Tiomkin next turned to Paramount for Alice in Wonderland (1933), another fine example of making music that he liked. Hollywood's most prominent independent composer, Tiomkin, thanks to his free-agent status, negotiated contractual terms to his benefit, which in turn benefited other musicians. He aggressively sought music publishing rights and formed his own ASCAP music publishing company, Volta Music Corporation, while remaining faithful to France-based performing rights organization SACEM. In Tiomkin's own words: "My fight is for dignity. Not only for composer, but for all artists responsible for picture." He also fought for employing qualified musicians regardless of their race. As a composer classically trained at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Tiomkin was highly skilled in orchestral arrangements with complex brass and strings, but he was also thoroughly versed in the musical subtleties of America and integrated it into traditional European forms. His interest in the musical form resulted in his next score, for the operetta Naughty Marietta (1935), a popular musical that teamed Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. He also did his fair share of stock music arranging. Among his most successful partnerships was that with director Frank Capra, starting with Lost Horizon (1937), where Tiomkin used many innovative ideas, and received his first Academy Award nomination. The association with Capra lasted through four more famous films, culminating with It's a Wonderful Life (1946). In 1937 Tiomkin became a naturalized American citizen. The next year he made his public conducting debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. During the WWII years he wrote music for 12 military documentaries, earning himself a special decoration from the US Department of Defense. After the war he ventured into all styles of music for movies, ranging from mystery and horror to adventure and drama, such as his enchanting score, intricately worked around Claude Debussy's "Girl with the Flaxen Hair," for the haunting Portrait of Jennie (1948) and the energetic martial themes for Cyrano de Bergerac (1950). He scored three films for Alfred Hitchcock, perhaps the most inventive being for the tension-building Strangers on a Train (1951) with its out-of-control carousel finale. He also worked with top directors in that exclusively American genre: the western. His loudest success was the original music for Duel in the Sun (1946) by King Vidor. For that film, Tiomkin wrote a lush orchestral score, trying to fulfill writer/producer David O. Selznick's request to "Make a theme for orgasm!" Tiomkin worked for several weeks, and composed a powerful theme culminating with 40 drummers. Selsnick was impressed, but commented: "This is not orgasm!" Tiomkin worked for one more month and delivered an even more powerful theme culminating with 100 voices. Selznick was impressed again, but commented: "This is not orgasm! This is not the way I f..k!" Tiomkin replied brilliantly, "Mister Selznick, you may f..k the way you want, but this is the way I f..k!" Selznick was convinced, and after that Tiomkin's music was fully accepted. In 1948 he wrote the score for one of the westerns with John Wayne, Red River (1948) by Howard Hawks. Wayne had Tiomkin's touch on five more movies into the 1960s. Tiomkin was adding a song to all of his scores, starting with the obscure Trail to Mexico (1946). The result was successful, and the western score with songs became Tiomkin's signature. Horns and lush string orchestral sound are most associated with Tiomkin's style, which culminated in The Unforgiven (1960) by John Huston, although he used the same approach in High Noon (1952) with the famous song "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'" and Howard Hawks' The Big Sky (1952). Most of his big-screen songs were written for westerns and totaled some 25 themes. The most songs he composed for one movie was six for Friendly Persuasion (1956). Tiomkin achieved dramatic effects by using his signature orchestral arrangements in such famous films as Giant (1956), The Old Man and the Sea (1958) and The Guns of Navarone (1961). He also wrote music and theme songs for several TV series, most notably for Clint Eastwood's Rawhide (1959). In 1967 his beloved wife, Albertina Rasch, passed away, and Tiomkin was emotionally devastated. Going back from his wife's funeral to his Hancock Park home in Los Angeles, he was attacked and beaten by a street gang. The crime caused him more pain, so upon recommendation of his doctor, Tiomkin moved to Europe for the rest of his life. In the 1960s Tiomkin produced Mackenna's Gold (1969) starring Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif. He also executive-produced and orchestrated the US/Russian co-production Tchaikovsky (1970), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for best music, and the movie was also nominated in the foreign language film category. Filming on locations in Russia allowed him to return to his homeland for the first time since 1921, which also was the last visit to his mother country. In 1972 Tiomkin married Olivia Cynthia Patch, a British aristocrat, and the couple settled in London. They also maintained a second home in Paris. For the rest of his life Tiomkin indulged himself in playing piano, a joy also shared by his wife. He died on November 11, 1979, in London, England, and was laid to rest in Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Glendale, California. In 1999 Dimitri Tiomkin was pictured on one of six 33¢ USA commemorative postage stamps in the Legends of American Music series, honoring Hollywood Composers. His music remains popular, and is continuously used in many new films, such as Inglourious Basterds (2009) by director Quentin Tarantino.- Composer
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Claude Bolling was born on 10 April 1930 in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France. He was a composer and actor, known for The Holiday (2006), Joker (2019) and He Died with His Eyes Open (1985). He was married to Irène Dervize-Sadyker. He died on 29 December 2020 in Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine, France.- Composer
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Michel Magne was born on 20 March 1930 in Lisieux, Calvados, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Gigot (1962), S.A.S. San Salvador (1982) and The Sleeping Car Murder (1965). He died on 19 December 1984 in Cergy-Pontoise, Val-d'Oise, France.- Composer
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Maurice Thiriet was born on 2 May 1906 in Meulan-en-Yvelines, Yvelines, France. He was a composer, known for Children of Paradise (1945), Les Visiteurs du Soir (1942) and Lucrèce Borgia (1953). He died on 28 September 1972 in Bracquemont, Seine-Maritime, France.- Composer
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Georges Van Parys was born on 7 June 1902 in Paris, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Diabolique (1955), Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Frida (2002). He was married to Blanca de Selva y de Serigny. He died on 28 January 1971 in Paris, France.- Composer
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Jean Marion was born on 6 May 1912 in Paris, France. She was a composer, known for Les mystères de Paris (1962), Captain Blood (1960) and The Miracle of the Wolves (1961). She was married to Anne-Marie Hunebelle. She died on 12 March 1967 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France.- Composer
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Joseph Kosma was born in Budapest. He took an interest in music at a very young age, writing an opera called "Noel dans les Tranchées" as a teenager. One of his greatest loves in Budapest was the music of Bela Bartok. Finding the political atmosphere to be more and more oppressive in Budapest, Kosma moved to Berlin where he joined Bertolt Brecht's traveling theater troupe (Kosma was a friend of a friend of Brecht's wife). Once fascism was clearly on the rise in Berlin, Kosma headed for Paris, without knowing a word of French.
In Paris, Kosma eventually met Jacques Prévert. The pair went on to create around 80 songs, with Kosma setting Prévert's poems to music (and in a few instances, the other way around). Prévert introduced Kosma to Renoir (Prévert had written The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936)), and one of Kosma's songs ended up in the film. Next, Kosma wrote the score for _Une partie de campagne (1936)_), which was not released until after the Second World War.
Kosma then met Marcel Carné through Prévert. Kosma went on to work for Carné through the Occupation - while hiding in the South of France, because he was a Jew. While in hiding, Kosma ended up writing uncredited scores for Les Visiteurs du Soir (1942)) and Children of Paradise (1945))- though Kosma actually ended up with his name in the credits for this latter film, because the fall of the Nazis was imminent as the film was nearing completion.
Kosma is perhaps most famous for his song "Les Feuilles Mortes" ("Autumn Leaves"), which has been covered by many jazz musicians in many different countries. The piece was originally written for an opera called "Le Rendez-vous", which Prévert and Kosma then convinced Carné to turn into a film. The film changed its name to Gates of the Night (1946), after a Prévert lyric from another song, to avoid confusion with another film that had recently been released. The film was the most costly film to date in the French film industry (Les Enfants du Paradis had been before this), but failed at the box office, though critics praised the music.
In the postwar years, Kosma wrote numerous notable scores, particularly the score for the haunting and disturbing film, Blood of the Beasts (1949). Kosma continued to work on film scores until his death, though in his last years he focused on his first love, music for theater, composing the operas "Les Hussards" and "Les Canuts". The Kosma/Carné/Prévert team gradually drifted apart, and Kosma remarks in his journals that his two old friends did not come to one of his opera premieres. Kosma continued to work for Renoir until the very end, however, composing the music for later works.- Composer
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At the least George Auric was a fine musician, having been a child prodigy, but he was much more in the musical world. He studied under Vincent D'Indy (a devotee of Cesar Franck and the German school of symphonic composition) and attended the Paris Conservatory (1920). By the time he was 20 he had orchestrated and written incidental music for ballets and the stage. With some interest in the avant garde, he became a friend of Erik Satie and playwright Jean Cocteau and joined their friends, the musical group "Les Six", whose members were impressive: Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre (the only woman member), and Louis Durey. Auric moved into music criticism for a short time and then began composing for poetic and other textual formats from his Les Six associations. But his stylistic development would prove to be very classical in sympathy.
He especially continued his association with Cocteau who finally turned to films, and Auric turned to writing film scores. Their first collaboration was Cocteau's Blood of the Poet (1930). But Auric did the scores of many small format movies with other French directors through the 1930s and the war years. He was also interested in what the British were doing in film work. His first UK score was for Dead of Night (1945), a stylish horror film. The same year he also scored the Bernard Shaw comedic Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) with Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh. The next year he scored perhaps his most famous musical partnership with Cocteau, Beauty and the Beast (1946). Auric's haunting, subdued music for the movie would be typical of his inventive style of transparent orchestration in which he might use only a few instruments at a time in a particular passage but eventually employ all the usual orchestral instrumentation in this progression to convey the whole of his score. Auric's music (here Stravinsky-like) provided the perfect atmospheric score for the eerie British horror classic The Queen of Spades (1949).
Auric's first American score very much displayed his depth in conveying the nuances of mood change in a story musically. This was the wonderful, bittersweet comedy Roman Holiday (1953), directed by William Wyler and introducing a vivacious Audrey Hepburn to the silver screen. On through the 1950s and into the 1960s Auric was very busy with scores predominately of French films but some notable British and American efforts as well. Among several for the English language were the charming American war drama Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957) with Deborah Kerr and - with Kerr again - the spooky 'Henry James' novel ("Turn of the Screw") UK adaptation The Innocents (1961). For the remainder of the 1960s and sporadically in the mid 1970s, Auric did some additional scoring, mostly French TV, but he was busy elsewhere as of 1962 being director of Paris Opera. Providing a unique finesse to film music, George Auric contributed nearly 130 scores, placing him along side some of the most prolific of the contemporary Hollywood film composers.- Composer
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Raymond Lefebvre was born on 20 November 1929 in Calais, Pas-de-Calais, France. He was a composer and actor, known for The Gendarme of Saint-Tropez (1964). He was married to Nicole Bernard-Savary. He died on 27 June 2008 in Seine-Port, Seine-et-Marne, France.- Composer
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Jacques Loussier was born on 26 October 1934 in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Dark of the Sun (1968) and The Informer (1962). He was married to Elizabeth Note and Sylvie de Tournemire. He died on 5 March 2019 in Blois, Loir-et-Cher, France.- Composer
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Michel Colombier was born on 23 May 1939 in Lyon, Rhône, France. He was a composer, known for Man on Fire (2004), Against All Odds (1984) and The Golden Child (1986). He was married to Dana Colombier. He died on 14 November 2004 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Composer
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Takeo Watanabe was born on 16 April 1933 in Tokyo, Japan. He was a composer and actor, known for Lost in Translation (2003), The Valiant Red Pony (1968) and Mobile Suit Gundam I (1981). He died on 2 June 1989 in Tokyo, Japan.- Music Department
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David Rose was born on 15 June 1910 in London, England, UK. He was a composer and actor, known for Falling Down (1993), Bonanza (1959) and Lionheart (1990). He was married to Betty Bartholomew, Judy Garland and Martha Raye. He died on 23 August 1990 in Burbank, California, USA.- Composer
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Composer ("American Salute", "Pavanne"), conductor, pianist and arranger, educated at New York University and a music student of Abby Whiteside and Vincent Jones. At six, he had his first composition published ("Just Six"), and thereafter concertized until age 17. He was a staff arranger for Radio City Music Hall, and later a staff member at NBC. He was a guest conductor for several symphony orchestras. His Broadway stage scores include "Billion Dollar Baby" and "Arms and the Girl". He conducted his own orchestra on many recordings. Joining ASCAP in 1936, he became an ASVCAP director in 1959. His chief musical collaborators included Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Dorothy Fields. His other popular songs and instrumentals include "Tropical", "Guaracha", "Bad Timing", "Nothin' for Nothin'", and "There Must Be Something Better than Love".- Music Department
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Raymond Bernard (not to be confused with the famous director of the same name) was a conductor, arranger and composer. After debuting in Ray Ventura's band, he became a member of the orchestra accompanying the circus shows in the early days of French television ("La piste aux étoiles" (1945)_). He also accompanied Gilbert Bécaud and Serge Reggiani during their song recitals. In parallel Raymond Bernard wrote a few scores for the cinema (A Bullet in the Gun Barrel (1958), Le Sicilien (1958), L'ennemi dans l'ombre (1960)) and or for television (Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret (1967)).- Music Department
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Versatile American arranger/conductor who started as a trombonist with several big bands, including Tommy Dorsey. In a long, distinguished career, he not only scored numerous films and television shows, but made many now-legendary recordings in collaboration with such people as Rosemary Clooney, Nat 'King' Cole, and, most notably, Frank Sinatra. With the latter, he recorded a series of albums now regarded as legendary ("Songs for Swingin' Lovers", "The Concert Sinatra", etc.). He recorded prolifically on his own, as well, scoring two top-ten hits with "Lisbon Antigua" (#1, 1956) and "Theme from 'Route 66'" (# 10, 1962). In his later years, he made a series of successful albums with pop diva Linda Ronstadt.- Music Department
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Distinguished multiple Grammy-winning trumpeter, arranger, conductor and songwriter whose instantly-recognizable style remains a longtime trademark. The son of a roofer and a youthful asthmatic, his physician advised therapy through playing the tuba. In his school band, he developed an appreciation of the other instruments and became a self-taught trumpeter and trombonist, and also an arranger. On the occasion when Charlie Barnet was to perform on a Pittsburgh radio station, May came to the studio to show Barnet some arrangements, which Barnet accepted but never paid for. Several months later, May approached Barnet for payment and Barnet offered May a position with his band. For Barnet, he provided the arrangement for his hits "Cherokee" and "Redskin Rhumba". Eventually Glenn Miller became aware of the Barnet band's sound and hired May away to play and arrange. For Miller, Billy May contributed the arrangements for "Serenade in Blue", "American Patrol" and "Take the 'A' Train". When the Miller band dissolved during World War II, May settled in Los Angeles to work with NBC and Capitol Records as a studio arranger, and with the bands of 'Les Brown', Woody Herman, Alvino Rey and Ozzie Nelson. But his longest association was with Frank Sinatra, with whom he worked on the noted albums "Come Fly With Me" (1957), " and "Come Dance With Me" (1958), "Come Swing With Me" (1961), and "Trilogy" (1979). In the early 1950s, Billy May had his own orchestra, for which the theme was "Lean Baby", featuring his trademark sax style. His last musical work was arranging a 90th Anniversary compendium of the music from Paramount Pictures in collaboration with noted composer-arranger Will Schaefer. But Billy May left the project due to his illness.- Music Department
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Rimsky-Korsakov was a navy officer but soon discovered his love for music. Since 1861 he belonged to the group of Balakirew but later he returned to the traditional way of composing. He combined uniquely the Russian folk songs with the music of the Orthodox Church. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the first Russian symphony and Igor Strawinsky was one of his students.- Music Department
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Al Hirt was born on 7 November 1922 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), 21 Jump Street (2012) and The Green Hornet (1966). He was married to Beverly Essel , Zide Bowers Jahncke and Mary Patureau. He died on 27 April 1999 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.- Music Department
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Lionel Newman was the youngest of a triumvirate of accomplished virtuosos, composers and conductors, who dominated the music department at 20th Century Fox for more than four decades. Already a highly regarded pianist by the age of 15, Lionel went on the national vaudeville circuit as accompanist for Mae West, before joining his siblings, Alfred and Emil, on the West Coast. He completed his music studies under Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco in Los Angeles and, by 1934, fronted his own musical ensemble, 'Newman's Society Orchestra', aboard the luxury cruise ship SS Rotterdam on the Holland-America Line.
Under the tutelage of older brother Alfred (who headed the music department at 20th Century Fox from 1939-60), Lionel gradually broke into the movie business. He was first commissioned to write the title song for the modern western, The Cowboy and the Lady (1938). For this, he shared an Oscar-nomination for Best Song with lyricist Arthur Quenzer. In 1942, Lionel was hired by Fox as rehearsal pianist and songwriter. He scored his first major hit in 1948 with the standard "Again" (written for the movie Road House (1948)), which rode high in the Hit Parade, and was covered by many top stars of the day, including Mel Tormé, Doris Day, Vera Lynn and Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra.
By the early 50's, Lionel was receiving more prestigious assignments, both as musical director and as composer. From the time they first worked together on Don't Bother to Knock (1952), he struck up a close working relationship (and subsequent friendship) with fellow Fox contract player Marilyn Monroe. He became her favorite conductor on some of her best films, including Niagara (1953) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). He also wrote the title song for River of No Return (1954) (with lyrics by Ken Darby), plus another piece from the movie, "Down in the Meadow" - both sung by Marilyn. Other notable films he worked on over the years, include North to Alaska (1960), Cleopatra (1963), The Sand Pebbles (1966) and Alien (1979). Among his compositions are the theme for The Proud Ones (1956) (with pre-Spaghetti western whistling) and (as co-writer with brother Alfred) the stirring opening theme for the gritty revenge western The Bravados (1958), starring Gregory Peck.
Following Alfred's departure from Fox in 1959, Lionel was promoted to music director, then to vice president in charge of feature and television music. During the following decade, he supervised the majority of musical segments at the studio, in addition to composing some classic TV music, such as the jazz-tinged theme from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959). In 1969, Lionel won an Oscar (shared with Lennie Hayton) for Best Score of a Musical Picture for Hello, Dolly! (1969). The following year, Alfred died and Lionel took over the mantle of general director of music at Fox, a position he held until his own departure in 1985. He subsequently joined MGM/United Artists in a similar executive capacity for the remaining years of his life.
Known for his consummate perfectionism, as well as his often raucous sense of humor, Lionel was greatly respected by his peers and appreciated by up-and -coming film composers. A scholarship for young classical conductors is named in his honor.- Composer
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Oliver Nelson began playing piano at age six and picked up the saxophone when he was eleven. Later he continued his musical education at Washington University in St. Louis, as well as studying with composer Elliott Carter. Nelson gained practical experience by playing in bands with Erskine Hawkins, Louie Bellson, Quincy Jones and Duke Ellington. In the late 1950s he began recording with his own ensemble and earned attention as a promising jazz artist with the release of LPs like "The Blues and the Abstract Truth" (1961). It might be difficult to compile a complete list of the films and TV shows Nelson contributed to, since it's common for arrangers and orchestrators to work without credit in Hollywood. One of his better-known efforts is the score for Alfie (1966), where he collaborated with sax man Sonny Rollins. Nelson's arrangements provide a buoyant, swinging backdrop for Rollins' assured playing. However, he is also sensitive to the film's quieter moments. The breadth of Nelson's ability as an arranger/orchestrator is demonstrated by his contribution to Last Tango in Paris (1972). In his work with Gato Barbieri on this film, Nelson moves from the melancholy ruminations of the opening cue to the brittle elegance of the tango to the driving sound of a large ensemble. The score for Zig Zag (1970) is an example of Nelson's work as a composer. In this soundtrack he creates tension by combining dense harmonies and aggressive percussion. It has been suggested that Nelson's hectic schedule, which included work as composer, arranger, performer and teacher, may have helped to bring about his early death. He suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 43.