Alfred Newman

For other uses, see Alfred Newman (disambiguation).
Alfred Newman
Newman in 1913
Born(1900-03-17)March 17, 1900
New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
DiedFebruary 17, 1970(1970-02-17) (aged 69)
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
Occupation(s)Composer, conductor, arranger
Spouse
Martha Louise Montgomery
​
​
(m. 1947⁠–⁠1970)​
Children5, including David, Thomas, and Maria Newman
Relatives
Musical career
GenresFilm score
Years active1915–1970

Alfred Newman (March 17, 1900 – February 17, 1970) was 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,[1] contributing to the extended Newman family[2] being the most Academy Award-nominated 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 Wuthering Heights, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Mark of Zorro, How Green Was My Valley, The Song of Bernadette, Captain from Castile, All About Eve, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, Anastasia, The Diary of Anne Frank, How The West Was Won, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and his final score, Airport, 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. Prior to commencing his employment with 20th Century Fox, Newman composed the fanfares which are most often associated with Samuel Goldwyn productions and David O. Selznick productions.

Newman was also highly regarded as a conductor, and arranged and conducted many scores by other composers, including George Gershwin, Charlie 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.[3] Newman and two of his fellow composers, Max Steiner and Dimitri Tiomkin, were considered the "three godfathers of film music".[4][5]

  1. ^ "Alfred Newman". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  2. ^ "How Randy Newman and His Family Have Shaped Movie Music for Generations". Vanity Fair. 2016-02-18. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  3. ^ Henderson, Sanya. Alex North, Film Composer: A Biography, McFarland (2003) pp. 43-44
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference MacDonald was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Nominee Facts - Most Nominations and Awards" Archived 2016-04-02 at the Wayback Machine, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; retrieved November 30, 2015.