Carmen Dragon

Carmen Dragon (born July 28, 1914 in Antioch , California , † March 28, 1984 in Los Angeles ) was an American conductor , arranger and film composer .

Life

Carmen Dragon began his career as an arranger in Meredith Willson's orchestra . In addition to live appearances, he was mainly active in the radio, for which he later received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (6104 Hollywood Boulevard). From 1941 he also composed film music in Hollywood . For his work on the film musical Es tanzt die Göttin ( Cover Girl , 1944) with Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly , he and Morris Stoloff won the Oscar in the category Best Music in a Film Musical .

Over the years he has conducted various orchestras, such as the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, with which he made numerous records for Capitol Records , the Capitol Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra . In 1950 Dragon became a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the US counterpart to the German GEMA .

Carmen Dragon died of cancer in Los Angeles in 1984 at the age of 69 and was buried in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California . Three of his five children followed in his musical footsteps: son Daryl Dragon (1942–2019) was a keyboardist for the Beach Boys during the 1970s and formed the musical duo Captain & Tennille with his wife, singer Toni Tennille . Daughter and namesake Carmen Dragon (1948-2010) was a successful pianist and harp player . Dennis Dragon was the drummer for the rock band The Surf Punks.

Filmography (selection)

• 1941: Escape to Texas (Texas) - Director: George Marshall
• 1944: The Goddess Dances (Cover Girl) - Director: Charles Vidor
• 1946: The hero of the day (The Kid from Brooklyn) - Director: Norman Z. McLeod
• 1946: The Strange Woman - Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
• 1947: woman without morals? (Dishonored Lady) - Director: Robert Stevenson
• 1948: The Time of Your Life - Director: HC Potter
• 1950: You Won't See Tomorrow (Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye) - Director: Gordon Douglas
• 1951: The Rogue and the Lady (The Law and the Lady) - Director: Edwin H. Knopf
• 1951: The People Against O'Hara - Directed by John Sturges
• 1952: Men make fashion (Lovely to Look at) - Director: Mervyn LeRoy
• 1955: The finger on the trigger (At Gunpoint) - Director: Alfred L. Werker
• 1956: The Demonischen (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) - Director: Don Siegel

Web links

• Carmen Dragon in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Carmen Dragon in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Official website (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Carmen Dragon, a composer . In: The New York Times , March 29, 1984.
2. ↑ Carmen Dragon. Obituary . In: Los Angeles Times , July 15, 2010.
3. ↑ cf. dennisdragon.com ( Memento of the original from November 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.