Alfred Newman

From Grokipedia

Alfred Newman (March 17, 1900 – February 17, 1970) was an American composer, conductor, and arranger renowned for pioneering symphonic film scoring in Hollywood. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, he displayed prodigious musical talent from childhood, performing piano publicly by age eight and becoming Broadway's youngest conductor at 17. Transitioning to film in the early 1930s, Newman composed the enduring 20th Century Fox fanfare in 1933 and served as the studio's musical director from 1940 until the 1960s, overseeing scores for over 200 motion pictures. His work, marked by expansive orchestration and emotional resonance, earned him a record nine Academy Awards for Best Original Score from 45 nominations, solidifying his influence on cinematic music.

In brief

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, contributing to the extended Newman family 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.