Morris Stoloff

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Morris Stoloff (born August 1, 1898 in Philadelphia , † April 16, 1980 in Woodland Hills , Los Angeles ) was an American conductor , film composer and musical director of the Columbia Pictures film studio .

Life

Morris Stoloff was born in Philadelphia in 1898. His musical talent was recognized and encouraged as a child. He played the violin and studied for several years with the German violinist Leopold von Auer . At the age of 16 he toured the United States as a soloist and joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra a year later as the youngest member to date .

After the emergence of the sound film in the late 1920s, the film studios were desperately looking for composers and musicians who could provide them with the sound or music for their films. In 1935 Stoloff got a contract with Columbia Pictures , where he took over the musical direction until 1962 and was responsible for both B-films and large-scale productions of all genres. His main task was to coordinate the composers, conductors, musicians of the orchestra and the recording technology and also to coordinate the budget and schedule. Whenever he worked particularly closely with a composer to create a musical theme for a film, he was featured in the film's credits. Because of this, he became one of the most nominated filmmakers in Academy Awards history . Nominated a total of 18 times, it received the Oscar three times in the Best Film Music category , including the film musical Es tanzt die Göttin (1944) with Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly .

In the late 1940s, Stoloff began recording songs and soundtracks for the Decca Records label . In 1956 he had a top ten hit in the United States with the song Moonglow , which combined the composition of the same name from the swing era with George Duning's love theme from the Columbia film Picnic (1955). When Frank Sinatra founded Reprise Records in the early 1960s , he hired Stoloff as musical director after the two had already successfully worked together for the film musical Pal Joey in 1957 . Stoloff then recorded numerous Broadway musicals for Reprise Records , such as Kiss Me, Kate by Cole Porter .

Morris Stoloff died in 1980 at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills , Los Angeles, aged 81 . He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (6702 Hollywood Boulevard).

Filmography (selection)

As musical director

Awards

Oscar

Best film score

Nominated:

  • 1938: In the shackles of Shangri-La (with Dimitri Tiomkin )
  • 1939: Girls' School (with Gregory Stone )
  • 1942: The Secret of the Three Sisters (together with Ernst Toch )
  • 1942: You'll never get rich
  • 1943: Witness for the prosecution (together with Friedrich Hollaender )
  • 1944: Commandos Strike at Dawn (with Louis Gruenberg )
  • 1944: Something to Shout About
  • 1945: Address Unknown (together with Ernst Toch )
  • 1946: A Song to Remember (with Miklós Rózsa )
  • 1946: Tonight and Every Night (with Marlin Skiles )
  • 1950: Jolson Sings Again (with George Duning )
  • 1954: Damned for all eternity (with George Duning)
  • 1954: The 5000 fingers of Dr. T. (together with Friedrich Hollaender)
  • 1957: Loved forever (with George Duning)
  • 1962: Fanny (with Harry Sukman )

Won:

  • 1945: The goddess dances (together with Carmen Dragon )
  • 1947: The jazz singer
  • 1961: Only a few are chosen (together with Harry Sukman)

Laurel Awards

  • 1958: 2nd place as best musical director for Pal Joey

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Morris Stoloff, Composer Won 3 Academy Awards for Scores . In: The New York Times , April 29, 1980.
personal data
SURNAME Stoloff, Morris
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American conductor and film composer
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 1980
Place of death Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) , Los Angeles