Walter Kent

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Walter Kent (born November 29, 1911 in New York City , † March 2, 1994 in Woodland Hills , Los Angeles , actually: Walter Maurice Kaufman ) was an American composer .

Life

Walter Kent grew up in a Jewish household and enjoyed an extensive education. He was trained in architecture as well as music. He attended Townsend Harris Hall, the Juilliard School on a scholarship, and City College . He also had private lessons with Leopold von Auer and Samuel Gardner . He initially worked as an architect, but soon began to gain a foothold in the music business. His first big hit was Pu-leeze, Mr Hemingway (1932). In New York he had his own orchestra that appeared on television and radio. From 1937 he began to write songs for films , especially for westerns . In 1943 he came to Hollywood as an architect , but continued to write music for various films and theater performances. He took part in Walt Disney's animated film Music, Dance and Rhythm (1948) with three compositions . Other films with his music were Manhattan Merry-Go-Round (1937), Hitchhike to Happiness (1945), Senorita from the West (1943) and Double Trouble .

Kent was nominated twice for an Oscar : 1945 for Too Much in Love in Song of the Open Road and 1946 for Endlessly in Earl Carroll Vanities . Both times he was nominated together with Kim Gannon . With Gannon he also wrote the songs for the comedic musical drama Hitchhike to Happiness .

His best-known pieces are the Christmas hit I'll Be Home for Christmas , known from the version by Bing Crosby and the war hit (There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover , which was sung in the best-known version by Vera Lynn . The Broadway musical Seventeen (1951), for which he composed the music with Gannon and which ran for just six months, was a flop . In 1950 he had two more hits with I'm Gonna Live Till I Die for Frankie Laine (and later Frank Sinatra ) and You're Always in My Dreams for the early doo-wop group The Ravens .

Songs (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Dick Vosburgh: Obituary: Walter Kent. The Independent , March 8, 1994, accessed January 25, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Walter Kent at Allmusic (English). Retrieved January 25, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Kent, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kaufman, Walter Maurice (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH March 2, 1994
Place of death Woodland Hills