Sol Kaplan

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Solomon "Sol" Kaplan (born April 19, 1919 in Philadelphia , † November 14, 1990 in Manhattan , New York ) was an American pianist , conductor and film composer .

Life

Sol Kaplan performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of twelve . He later went to New York , where he made a name for himself as a pianist and, when he was only 21, gave regular concerts at the renowned Carnegie Hall . In 1941 he began his career as a composer in Hollywood , where he wrote the film music for Julien Duvivier's star-studded episode film Six Fates (1942) . During World War II , he composed film music for the United States Army Signal Corps and the Office of Strategic Services , the CIA's forerunner organization .

While he was still under contract with MGM until the mid-1940s , Kaplan had to reorient himself after the war. In 1948 and 1949 he worked for small production studios. In 1950 he was finally hired by 20th Century Fox as a composer, whereupon he was responsible for the thriller Niagara (1953) with Marilyn Monroe and Jean Negulesco's The Downfall of the Titanic . His career was interrupted in the mid-1950s when he was blacklisted by the Un-American Activities Committee . Although no connection to the Communist Party could be proven, he was fired from 20th Century Fox. He then worked again for various production companies. His work in the 1960s includes Carl Foreman's war film The Sieger (1963), the British agent film The Spy Who Came Out of the Cold (1965) with Richard Burton and two episodes of Spaceship Enterprise (1966–1967).

Until his death he was married to the actress Frances Heflin (1920-1994), the sister of the actor Van Heflin . The marriage had three children: the actresses Mady Kaplan and Nora Heflin and the director Jonathan Kaplan , who worked with his father in 1979 for the film Wut im Bauch . Sol Kaplan died of lung cancer in Manhattan in 1990 at the age of 71 . His grave is in the Beth David Cemetery in Elmont .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Sol Kaplan, 71, Dies; Composer and pianist . In: The New York Times , November 16, 1990.
personal data
SURNAME Chaplain, Sol
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kaplan, Solomon (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pianist and film composer
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1990
Place of death Manhattan , New York City