Dimitri Tiomkin
Encyclopedia
Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (May 10, 1894November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born Hollywood film score
composer
and conductor. He is considered "one of the giants of Hollywood movie music." Musically trained in Russia, he is best known for his westerns, "where his expansive, muscular style had its greatest impact." Tiomkin received 22 Academy Award nominations and won four Oscars.
, Ukraine
, then part of the Russian Empire
.
His family was of Jewish descent, with his father a "distinguished pathologist" and associate of Professor Paul Ehrlich
, the inventor and Nobel laureate noted for discovering a cure for syphilis
and for his research in autoimmunity
, later becoming chemotherapy
. His mother was a musician who began teaching the young Tiomkin piano at an early age. Her hope was to have her son become a professional pianist, according to Tiomkin biographer, Christopher Palmer. Tiomkin described his mother as being "small, blonde, merry and vivacious."
He was educated at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory
in Russia
, where he studied piano with Felix Blumenfeld
, teacher of Vladimir Horowitz
, and harmony and counterpoint with Alexander Glazunov
, mentor to Sergei Prokofiev
and Dmitri Shostakovich
.
festivities, and "The Storming of the Winter Palace" for the celebrations of the third anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. He supported himself while living in St. Petersburg by playing piano accompaniment for numerous Russian silent films.
He moved to Berlin after the Russian Revolution to live with his father; the revolution had diminished opportunities for classic musicians in Russia. In Berlin, from 1921 to 1923, he studied with the pianist Ferruccio Busoni
and Busoni's disciples Egon Petri
and Michael von Zadora. He composed light classical and popular music, and
made his performing debut as a pianist playing Liszt
's Piano Concerto No. 2
with the Berlin Philharmonic.
He moved to Paris with his room-mate, Michael Kariton, to perform a piano duo repertory together, which they did before the end of 1924. In 1925 the duo received an offer from the New York theatrical producer Morris Gest
and went to the United States where they performed together on the Keith
/Albee
and Orpheum vaudeville circuits in which they accompanied a ballet troupe run by the Austrian ballerina Albertina Rasch
. Tiomkin and Rasch's professional relationship evolved into a personal one, and they married in 1927.
While in New York Tiomkin gave a recital at Carnegie Hall
which featured music by Maurice Ravel
, Alexander Scriabin
, Francis Poulenc
, and Alexandre Tansman
. He and his new wife went on tour to Paris in 1928, where he played the European premiere of George Gershwin
's Concerto in F
at the Paris Opera
, with Gershwin in the audience.
in 1933. Although he worked on some smaller film projects, his goal was to become a concert pianist. However, that goal ended abruptly in 1937 when he broke his arm, and he then focused on a career as a film-music composer.
, who picked him to write and perform the score for his film, Lost Horizon in 1937. The film won Tiomkin significant recognition in Hollywood, and came out the same year he became a U.S. citizen.
In his autobiography, Please Don't Hate Me! (1959), Tiomkin recalls how the assignment by Capra forced him to first confront a director in a matter of music style:
He worked on other Capra films during the following decade, including the comedy, You Can't Take It With You
(1938 -AA winner for "Best Picture); Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
(1939- AA winner for "Best Picture"); Meet John Doe
(1941); and It's a Wonderful Life
(1946). During World War II
, he continued his close collaboration with Capra by composing scores for his Why We Fight
series, consisting of seven films commissioned by the U.S. government to show American soldiers the reason for the war. They were later released to the general U.S. public to generate support for American involvement.
Tiomkin credits Capra for broadening his musical horizons by shifting them away from a purely Eurocentric and romantic style to a more American style based on subject matter and story. After the war Tiomkin became one of the most sought-after composers in Hollywood.
's High Noon
, with the theme song, “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'” (“The Ballad of High Noon”). At its opening preview to the press, the film, which starred Gary Cooper
and Grace Kelly
, did badly. Tiomkin writes that "film experts agreed that the picture was a flat failure. . . The producers hesitated to release the picture." Tiomkin then bought the rights to the song and released it as a single for the popular music market, with singer Frankie Laine
. The record became an immediate success worldwide, one of the few hits that year.
Based on the popularity of the song, the studio released the film four months later, with the words sung by country western star Tex Ritter
. The film went on to receive seven Academy Award nominations and four wins, including two for Tiomkin: Best Original Music
and Best Song.
According to film historian Arthur R. Jarvis, Jr., the score "has been credited with saving the movie." Another music expert, Mervyn Cooke, agrees, adding that in his opinion "the song's spectacular success was partly responsible for changing the course of film-music history . . ." Tiomkin became the first composer to receive two Oscars (score and song) for the same dramatic film.
The song's lyrics briefly tell the entire story of the film, a tale of cowardice and conformity in a small Western town. The score was built entirely around a single western-style ballad. Tiomkin created an unconventional score for the film, and eliminated violins from the ensemble. Along with other instruments, he added a subtle harmonica sound in the background, to give the film a "rustic, deglamorized sound that suits the anti-heroic sentiments" expressed by the story.
According to Russian film historian Harlow Robinson, building the score around a single folk tune was typical of many Russian classical composers. Glenda Abramson, a historian of Jewish culture, adds that the song was likely adapted from a Yiddish folk tune, and has compared and found direct similarities in the music notation. She also notes that other widely recognized American songs were likewise adaptations from Jewish folk songs, including Irving Berlin
's "Blue Skies," and Harold Arlen
's "Paper Moon," among others. However, Robinson adds that the source of Tiomkin's score, if indeed folk, has not been proven.
Tiomkin won two more best score Oscars in subsequent years: the John Wayne
film The High and the Mighty
(1954), and for The Old Man and the Sea
(1958). During the ceremonies in 1955, Tiomkin humorously thanked all of the earlier composers who had influenced him in writing this music, including Beethoven
, Tchaikovsky
, Rimsky-Korsakov
, and many of the other great names of European classical music.
, Tiomkin scored films for a number of other leading directors. He did four films for Alfred Hitchcock
Shadow of a Doubt
(1943), Strangers on a Train
(1951), I Confess
(1953) and Dial M for Murder
(1954). He was one of few composers, the other main two being Franz Waxman
and Bernard Herrmann
, who scored multiple films for Hitchcock.
He also worked with Howard Hawks
on The Big Sky
(1952) and Land of the Pharaohs
(1955), with Fred Zinnemann
in The Men (1950) and The Sundowners
(1960), with John Huston
on The Unforgiven
(1960), and with Nicholas Ray
on 55 Days at Peking
(1963).
. His most well-know Western was High Noon
(1952). Among his other Westerns were Giant (1956), Friendly Persuasion
(1956), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
(1957), Rio Bravo (1959), and The Alamo
(1960). He received Oscar nominations for both Giant and The Alamo.
Although influenced by Eastern European music traditions, he was self-trained as a film composer and scored many other American successful movies of various genres, from Cyrano de Bergerac
(1950) to the military drama, The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955). Among other genres were The Guns of Navarone
(1961), Town Without Pity
(1961), 55 Days at Peking
(1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), and The War Wagon
(1967).
Tiomkin also wrote scores for four of Alfred Hitchcock
's romantic dramas, where he used a lush style relying on solo violins and muted trumpets. He composed the score for the science fiction thriller, The Thing, which is considered to be among the "greatest of all sci-fi scores" ever written, and is considered his "strangest and most experimental score."
(1959) and Gunslinger
. Although he was also hired to compose the theme for TV's The Wild Wild West
(1965), the producers rejected his music and subsequently hired Richard Markowitz
as his replacement. A cover version of the theme from Rawhide was performed in the 1980 cult musical film The Blues Brothers
, the in-joke that the composer is a Ukrainian-born Jew being lost on the crowd at the cowboy bar.
Tiomkin also made a few appearances as himself on television programs. These include being the mystery challenger on What's My Line?
and an appearance on Jack Benny
's CBS
program in December 1961, in which he attempted to help Jack write a song.
He also composed the music to the song "Wild Is The Wind
". It was originally recorded by Johnny Mathis
for the 1957 film Wild Is the Wind
. It is mostly well known as jazz singer Nina Simone
's standard. The song carried on in a 1976 David Bowie's cover (Bowie being a long time admirer of Simone). In 1981, Bowie released a shorter version as a single. which became a hit in the UK charts. It has since been recorded by several other artists.
Nonetheless, Tiomkin had no illusions about his talent and the nature of his film work when compared to the classical composers. "I am no Prokofiev, I am no Tchaikovsky. But what I write is good for what I write for. So please, boys, help me." Upon receiving his Oscar in 1955 for The High and the Mighty
, he became the first composer to publicly list and thank the great European masters, including Beethoven, Strauss, and Brahms, among others.
Music historian Christopher Palmer states that Tiomkin's "genius lay in coming up with themes and finding vivid ways of creating sonic color appropriate to the story and visual image, not in his ability to combine the themes into a complex symphonic structure that could stand on its own." In addition he speculates how a Russian-born pianist like Tiomkin, who was educated at a respected Russian music conservatory, could have become so successful in the American film industry:
Tiomkin himself alluded to this relationship in his autobiography:
Tiomkin also paid careful attention to the voices of the actors when composing. According to Epstein, he "found that in addition to the timbre of the voice, the pitch of the speaking voice must be very carefully considered. . . " To accomplish this, Tiomkin would go to the set during filming and would carefully listen to each of the actors. He would also talk with them individually, noting the pitch and color of their voice. Tiomkin explains why he took the extra time with actors:
, England, UK, in 1979 and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
.
Beginning with Lost Horizon in 1937, through his retirement from movies in 1979 over four decades later, and up until modern times, he is recognized as being the only Russian to have become a Hollywood film composer. Other Russian-born composers, such as Irving Berlin
, wrote their scores for Broadway plays, many of which were later adapted to film.
Tiomkin was the first film score composer to write both the title theme song and the score. That technique was exemplified in many of his westerns, including High Noon and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, where the main theme song became a common thread running through the entire film. For the film Red River, for example, his biographer Christopher Palmer describes how the music immediately sets the epic and heroic tone for the film:
Because of this stylistic contribution to westerns, along with other film genres, using title and ongoing theme songs, he had the greatest impact on Hollywood films in the following decades up until the present. With many of his songs being used in the title of films, Tiomkin created what composer Irwin Bazelon
called "title song mania." In subsequent decades, studios often attempted to create their own hit songs to both sell as a soundtrack and to enhance the movie experience, with a typical example being the film score for Titanic.
He was known to use "source music" in his scores, which some experts claim were often based on Russian folk songs. Much of his film music, especially for westerns, was used to create an atmosphere of "broad, sweeping landscapes," with a prominent use of chorus. During a TV interview, he credited his love of the European classic composers along with his ability to adapt American folk music styles to creating grand American theme music.
A number of Tiomkin's film scores were released on LP soundtrack albums, including Giant and The Alamo. Some of the recordings, which usually featured Tiomkin conducting his own music, have been reissued on CD. The theme song to High Noon has been recorded by many artists, with one German CD producer, Bear Family Records, producing a CD with 25 different artists performing that one song.
In 1999, the U.S. Postal Service added his image to their "Legends of American Music" stamp series. The series began with the issuance of the Elvis Presley in 1993, and Tiomkin's image was added as part of their "Hollywood Composers" selection.
In 1976, RCA Victor released Lost Horizon: The Classic Film Scores of Dimitri Tiomkin (US catalogue #ARL1-1669, UK catalogue #GL 43445) with Charles Gerhardt
and the National Philharmonic Orchestra
. Featuring highlights from various Tiomkin scores, the album was later reissued by RCA on CD with Dolby Surround Sound.
The American Film Institute
ranked Tiomkin's score for High Noon
#10 on their list of the greatest film scores
. His scores for the following films were also nominated for the list:
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and conductor. He is considered "one of the giants of Hollywood movie music." Musically trained in Russia, he is best known for his westerns, "where his expansive, muscular style had its greatest impact." Tiomkin received 22 Academy Award nominations and won four Oscars.
Early life and education
Dimitri Tiomkin was born in KremenchukKremenchuk
Kremenchuk is an important industrial city in the Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Kremenchutskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located on the banks of Dnieper River.-History:Kremenchuk was...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, then part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
.
His family was of Jewish descent, with his father a "distinguished pathologist" and associate of Professor Paul Ehrlich
Paul Ehrlich
Paul Ehrlich was a German scientist in the fields of hematology, immunology, and chemotherapy, and Nobel laureate. He is noted for curing syphilis and for his research in autoimmunity, calling it "horror autotoxicus"...
, the inventor and Nobel laureate noted for discovering a cure for syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
and for his research in autoimmunity
Autoimmunity
Autoimmunity is the failure of an organism to recognize its own constituent parts as self, which allows an immune response against its own cells and tissues. Any disease that results from such an aberrant immune response is termed an autoimmune disease...
, later becoming chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
. His mother was a musician who began teaching the young Tiomkin piano at an early age. Her hope was to have her son become a professional pianist, according to Tiomkin biographer, Christopher Palmer. Tiomkin described his mother as being "small, blonde, merry and vivacious."
He was educated at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory
Saint Petersburg Conservatory
The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory is a music school in Saint Petersburg. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members and 1,400 students.-History:...
in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, where he studied piano with Felix Blumenfeld
Felix Blumenfeld
Felix Mikhailovich Blumenfeld was a Russian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher.He was born in Kovalevka, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire , the son of Austrian Mikhail Frantsevich Blumenfeld and the Polish Marie Szymanowska, and studied composition at the St...
, teacher of Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz was a Russian-American classical virtuoso pianist and minor composer. His technique and use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Life and early...
, and harmony and counterpoint with Alexander Glazunov
Alexander Glazunov
Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor...
, mentor to Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
and Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
.
Early years
In 1920, while working for the Petrograd Military District Political Administration (PUR), he was one of the lead organizers of two revolutionary mass spectacles, the "Mystery of Liberated Labor," a pseudo-religious mystery play for the May DayMay Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
festivities, and "The Storming of the Winter Palace" for the celebrations of the third anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. He supported himself while living in St. Petersburg by playing piano accompaniment for numerous Russian silent films.
He moved to Berlin after the Russian Revolution to live with his father; the revolution had diminished opportunities for classic musicians in Russia. In Berlin, from 1921 to 1923, he studied with the pianist Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
and Busoni's disciples Egon Petri
Egon Petri
Egon Petri was a classical pianist.-Biography:Petri's family was Dutch and he was born a Dutch citizen, but he was born in Hanover in Germany and was brought up in Dresden. His father was a professional violinist who taught his son that instrument. Petri played in the Dresden Court Orchestra and...
and Michael von Zadora. He composed light classical and popular music, and
made his performing debut as a pianist playing Liszt
Liszt
Liszt is a Hungarian surname. Notable persons with that surname include:* Franz Liszt , Hungarian composer and pianist* Adam Liszt , father of Franz Liszt* Anna Liszt , mother of Franz Liszt...
's Piano Concerto No. 2
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Liszt)
Franz Liszt wrote drafts for his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in A major, S.125, during his virtuoso period, in 1839 to 1840. He then put away the manuscript for a decade. When he returned to the concerto, he revised and scrutinized it repeatedly. The fourth and final period of revision...
with the Berlin Philharmonic.
He moved to Paris with his room-mate, Michael Kariton, to perform a piano duo repertory together, which they did before the end of 1924. In 1925 the duo received an offer from the New York theatrical producer Morris Gest
Morris Gest
Morris Gest was a Jewish-American theatrical producer of the early 20th century.-Early life:Born in Vilna, now Lithuania, the son of Leon and Elizabeth Gershonovitz...
and went to the United States where they performed together on the Keith
Benjamin Franklin Keith
Benjamin Franklin Keith was an American vaudeville theatre owner, highly influential in the evolution of variety theater into vaudeville.-Early years:...
/Albee
Edward Franklin Albee II
Edward Franklin Albee II was a vaudeville impresario, and the adoptive grandfather of Edward Franklin Albee III, the playwright.-Biography:He was born on October 8, 1857 in Machias, Maine to Nathaniel Smith Albee....
and Orpheum vaudeville circuits in which they accompanied a ballet troupe run by the Austrian ballerina Albertina Rasch
Albertina Rasch
Albertina Rasch was a naturalized American dancer and choreographer.-Early life:Born in Vienna in 1891 to a family of Polish Jewish descent, Rasch studied at the Vienna State Opera Ballet school and became leading ballerina at the New York Hippodrome in...
. Tiomkin and Rasch's professional relationship evolved into a personal one, and they married in 1927.
While in New York Tiomkin gave a recital at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
which featured music by Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
, Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
, Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
, and Alexandre Tansman
Alexandre Tansman
Alexandre Tansman was a Polish-born composer and virtuoso pianist. He spent his early years in his native Poland, but lived in France for most of his life...
. He and his new wife went on tour to Paris in 1928, where he played the European premiere of George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
's Concerto in F
Concerto in F (Gershwin)
Concerto in F is a composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and orchestra which is closer in form to a traditional concerto than the earlier jazz-influenced Rhapsody in Blue...
at the Paris Opera
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
, with Gershwin in the audience.
Hollywood (1930)
After the stock market crash in October 1929 reduced work opportunities in New York, Tiomkin and his wife moved on to Hollywood, where she was hired to supervise dance numbers in MGM movie musicals. He worked on some minor films, some without being credited under his own name, but his first significant film score project was for Paramount's Alice in WonderlandAlice in Wonderland (1933 film)
Alice in Wonderland is a 1933 film version of the famous Alice novels of Lewis Carroll. The film was produced by Paramount Pictures, featuring an all-star cast. It is all live-action, except for the Walrus and The Carpenter sequence, which was animated by Leon Schlesinger Productions.Stars featured...
in 1933. Although he worked on some smaller film projects, his goal was to become a concert pianist. However, that goal ended abruptly in 1937 when he broke his arm, and he then focused on a career as a film-music composer.
Frank Capra in Lost Horizon (1937)
Tiomkin received his first break from Columbia director Frank CapraFrank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
, who picked him to write and perform the score for his film, Lost Horizon in 1937. The film won Tiomkin significant recognition in Hollywood, and came out the same year he became a U.S. citizen.
In his autobiography, Please Don't Hate Me! (1959), Tiomkin recalls how the assignment by Capra forced him to first confront a director in a matter of music style:
He worked on other Capra films during the following decade, including the comedy, You Can't Take It With You
You Can't Take It with You (film)
You Can't Take It With You Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The cast includes James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore and Edward Arnold....
(1938 -AA winner for "Best Picture); Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American drama film starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart about one man's effect on American politics. It was directed by Frank Capra and written by Sidney Buchman, based on Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story. Mr...
(1939- AA winner for "Best Picture"); Meet John Doe
Meet John Doe
Meet John Doe is a 1941 American comedy drama film directed and produced by Frank Capra, and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The film is about a "grassroots" political campaign created unwittingly by a newspaper columnist and pursued by a wealthy businessman. It became a box office hit...
(1941); and It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
(1946). During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he continued his close collaboration with Capra by composing scores for his Why We Fight
Why We Fight
Why We Fight is a series of seven war information training films commissioned by the United States government during World War II whose purpose was to show American soldiers the reason for U.S. involvement in the war. Later on they were also shown to the general U.S...
series, consisting of seven films commissioned by the U.S. government to show American soldiers the reason for the war. They were later released to the general U.S. public to generate support for American involvement.
Tiomkin credits Capra for broadening his musical horizons by shifting them away from a purely Eurocentric and romantic style to a more American style based on subject matter and story. After the war Tiomkin became one of the most sought-after composers in Hollywood.
High Noon (1952)
In 1952 he composed the score to Fred ZinnemannFred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director. He won four Academy Awards and directed films like High Noon, From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons.-Life and career:...
's High Noon
High Noon
High Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself...
, with the theme song, “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'” (“The Ballad of High Noon”). At its opening preview to the press, the film, which starred Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
and Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
, did badly. Tiomkin writes that "film experts agreed that the picture was a flat failure. . . The producers hesitated to release the picture." Tiomkin then bought the rights to the song and released it as a single for the popular music market, with singer Frankie Laine
Frankie Laine
Frankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio , was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005...
. The record became an immediate success worldwide, one of the few hits that year.
Based on the popularity of the song, the studio released the film four months later, with the words sung by country western star Tex Ritter
Tex Ritter
Woodward Maurice Ritter , better known as Tex Ritter, was an American country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter family in acting...
. The film went on to receive seven Academy Award nominations and four wins, including two for Tiomkin: Best Original Music
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
and Best Song.
According to film historian Arthur R. Jarvis, Jr., the score "has been credited with saving the movie." Another music expert, Mervyn Cooke, agrees, adding that in his opinion "the song's spectacular success was partly responsible for changing the course of film-music history . . ." Tiomkin became the first composer to receive two Oscars (score and song) for the same dramatic film.
The song's lyrics briefly tell the entire story of the film, a tale of cowardice and conformity in a small Western town. The score was built entirely around a single western-style ballad. Tiomkin created an unconventional score for the film, and eliminated violins from the ensemble. Along with other instruments, he added a subtle harmonica sound in the background, to give the film a "rustic, deglamorized sound that suits the anti-heroic sentiments" expressed by the story.
According to Russian film historian Harlow Robinson, building the score around a single folk tune was typical of many Russian classical composers. Glenda Abramson, a historian of Jewish culture, adds that the song was likely adapted from a Yiddish folk tune, and has compared and found direct similarities in the music notation. She also notes that other widely recognized American songs were likewise adaptations from Jewish folk songs, including Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
's "Blue Skies," and Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, having written over 500 songs, a number of which have become known the world over. In addition to composing the songs for The Wizard of Oz, including the classic 1938 song, "Over the Rainbow,” Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the...
's "Paper Moon," among others. However, Robinson adds that the source of Tiomkin's score, if indeed folk, has not been proven.
Tiomkin won two more best score Oscars in subsequent years: the John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
film The High and the Mighty
The High and the Mighty (film)
The High and the Mighty is a 1954 American "disaster" film directed by William A. Wellman and written by Ernest K. Gann who also wrote the novel on which his screenplay was based. The film's cast was headlined by John Wayne, who was also the project's co-producer...
(1954), and for The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man and the Sea (1958 film)
The Old Man and the Sea is a 1958 film starring Spencer Tracy, in a portrayal for which he was nominated for a best actor Oscar. The screenplay was adapted by Peter Viertel from the novella of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, and the film was directed by John Sturges...
(1958). During the ceremonies in 1955, Tiomkin humorously thanked all of the earlier composers who had influenced him in writing this music, including Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
, Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
, and many of the other great names of European classical music.
Work with noted directors
Along with doing many films for Frank CapraFrank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
, Tiomkin scored films for a number of other leading directors. He did four films for Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story for Gordon McDonell...
(1943), Strangers on a Train
Strangers on a Train (film)
Strangers on a Train is an American psychological thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and based on the 1950 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. It was shot in the autumn of 1950 and released by Warner Bros. on June 30, 1951. The film stars Farley Granger, Ruth Roman,...
(1951), I Confess
I Confess (film)
I Confess is a drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Montgomery Clift as Fr. Michael William Logan, a Catholic priest, Anne Baxter as Ruth Grandfort, and Karl Malden as Inspector Larrue. This was the only film Hitchcock made with these three actors...
(1953) and Dial M for Murder
Dial M for Murder
Dial M for Murder is a 1954 American thriller film adapted from a successful stage play by Frederick Knott, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, and Robert Cummings. The movie was released by the Warner Bros...
(1954). He was one of few composers, the other main two being Franz Waxman
Franz Waxman
Franz Waxman was a German-American composer, known for his bravura Carmen Fantasie for violin and orchestra, based on musical themes from the Bizet opera Carmen, and for his musical scores for films....
and Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
, who scored multiple films for Hitchcock.
He also worked with Howard Hawks
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
on The Big Sky
The Big Sky (film)
The Big Sky is a 1952 Western film directed by Howard Hawks, based on the novel of the same name. The cast includes Kirk Douglas, Arthur Hunnicutt, Dewey Martin and Elizabeth Threatt....
(1952) and Land of the Pharaohs
Land of the Pharaohs
Land of the Pharaohs is a 1955 CinemaScope epic film made by the Continental Company, Ltd and presented by Warner Bros. It was directed and produced by Howard Hawks from a screenplay by Harold Jack Bloom, Harry Kurnitz, and the novelist William Faulkner...
(1955), with Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director. He won four Academy Awards and directed films like High Noon, From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons.-Life and career:...
in The Men (1950) and The Sundowners
The Sundowners
The Sundowners is a 1960 film that tells the story of an Australian outback family torn between the father's desires to continue his nomadic sheep-herding ways and the wife's and son's desire to settle down in one place...
(1960), with John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
on The Unforgiven
The Unforgiven (1960 film)
The Unforgiven is a 1960 American western film filmed in Durango, Mexico released in 1960. The film was directed by John Huston and starred Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn, Audie Murphy, Charles Bickford and Lillian Gish...
(1960), and with Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause....
on 55 Days at Peking
55 Days at Peking
55 Days at Peking is a 1963 historical epic film starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven, made by Samuel Bronston Productions, and released by Allied Artists. The movie was produced by Samuel Bronston and directed by Nicholas Ray, Andrew Marton , and Guy Green...
(1963).
Film genres
Many of his scores were for Western movies, for which he is best remembered. His first Western was Duel in the Sun (1946), directed by King VidorKing Vidor
King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades...
. His most well-know Western was High Noon
High Noon
High Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself...
(1952). Among his other Westerns were Giant (1956), Friendly Persuasion
Friendly Persuasion (film)
Friendly Persuasion is a 1956 Civil War film starring Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer, Robert Middleton and Phyllis Love. The screenplay was adapted by Michael Wilson from the 1945 novel The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West, and was directed by William Wyler...
(1956), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957 film)
The film was based on a real event which took place on October 26, 1881. It was directed by John Sturges and featuring a screenplay written by novelist Leon Uris, and the movie's supporting cast included Rhonda Fleming, John Ireland, Jo Van Fleet, Martin Milner, Dennis Hopper, Jack Elam, Lee Van...
(1957), Rio Bravo (1959), and The Alamo
The Alamo (1960 film)
The Alamo is a 1960 American historical epic released by United Artists. The film was directed by John Wayne, who also starred as Davy Crockett. The cast also includes Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William B...
(1960). He received Oscar nominations for both Giant and The Alamo.
Although influenced by Eastern European music traditions, he was self-trained as a film composer and scored many other American successful movies of various genres, from Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950 film)
Cyrano de Bergerac is a 1950 black-and-white feature film based on the 1897 French Alexandrine verse drama Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. It uses poet Brian Hooker's 1923 English blank verse translation as the basis for its screenplay...
(1950) to the military drama, The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955). Among other genres were The Guns of Navarone
The Guns of Navarone (film)
The Guns of Navarone is a 1961 British-American Action/Adventure war film based on the 1957 novel of the same name about the Dodecanese Campaign of World War II by Scottish thriller writer Alistair MacLean. It stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, along with Anthony Quayle and Stanley...
(1961), Town Without Pity
Town Without Pity
Town Without Pity is a 1961 American, Austrian and West German international co-production film drama starring Kirk Douglas, directed by Gottfried Reinhardt. It was made by Mirisch Productions for United Artists....
(1961), 55 Days at Peking
55 Days at Peking
55 Days at Peking is a 1963 historical epic film starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven, made by Samuel Bronston Productions, and released by Allied Artists. The movie was produced by Samuel Bronston and directed by Nicholas Ray, Andrew Marton , and Guy Green...
(1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), and The War Wagon
The War Wagon
The War Wagon is a 1967 western Technicolor film starring John Wayne, released by Universal Pictures, directed by Burt Kennedy, and adapted by Clair Huffaker from his own novel. The film, which featured Wayne in one of his few roles as technically a "bad guy" , received generally positive reviews....
(1967).
Tiomkin also wrote scores for four of Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's romantic dramas, where he used a lush style relying on solo violins and muted trumpets. He composed the score for the science fiction thriller, The Thing, which is considered to be among the "greatest of all sci-fi scores" ever written, and is considered his "strangest and most experimental score."
Television
In addition to the cinema he was also active in composing for the small screen, including such memorable television theme songs as RawhideRawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
(1959) and Gunslinger
Gunslinger
Gunfighter, also gunslinger , is a 20th century word, used in cinema or literature, referring to men in the American Old West who had gained a reputation as being dangerous with a gun...
. Although he was also hired to compose the theme for TV's The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
(1965), the producers rejected his music and subsequently hired Richard Markowitz
Richard Markowitz
Richard Allen Markowitz born September 3, 1926 in Santa Monica, California, died December 6, 1994 in Santa Monica, California, USA was an American film and television composer. He was the father of Kate Markowitz-Biography:...
as his replacement. A cover version of the theme from Rawhide was performed in the 1980 cult musical film The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers (film)
The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...
, the in-joke that the composer is a Ukrainian-born Jew being lost on the crowd at the cowboy bar.
Tiomkin also made a few appearances as himself on television programs. These include being the mystery challenger on What's My Line?
What's My Line?
What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
and an appearance on Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
's CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
program in December 1961, in which he attempted to help Jack write a song.
He also composed the music to the song "Wild Is The Wind
Wild Is the Wind (song)
"Wild Is the Wind" is a song written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington. The track was originally recorded by Johnny Mathis for the 1957 film Wild Is the Wind...
". It was originally recorded by Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
for the 1957 film Wild Is the Wind
Wild Is the Wind
Wild Is the Wind is a 1957 film which tells the story of a rancher who marries his Italian sister-in-law after the passing of his wife, but she falls in love with his young ranch-hand. It stars Anna Magnani, Anthony Quinn and Anthony Franciosa....
. It is mostly well known as jazz singer Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
's standard. The song carried on in a 1976 David Bowie's cover (Bowie being a long time admirer of Simone). In 1981, Bowie released a shorter version as a single. which became a hit in the UK charts. It has since been recorded by several other artists.
Composition styles and significance
Although Tiomkin was a trained classical pianist, he adapted his music training in Russia to the rapidly expanding Hollywood film industry, and self-taught himself how to compose meaningful film scores for almost any story type. Film historian David Wallace notes that despite Tiomkin's indebtedness to Europe's classical composers, he would go on to express more than any other composer, "the American spirit—its frontier spirit, anyway—in film music." Wallace summarizes the overall effect of his scores on the movie industry:Nonetheless, Tiomkin had no illusions about his talent and the nature of his film work when compared to the classical composers. "I am no Prokofiev, I am no Tchaikovsky. But what I write is good for what I write for. So please, boys, help me." Upon receiving his Oscar in 1955 for The High and the Mighty
The High and the Mighty (film)
The High and the Mighty is a 1954 American "disaster" film directed by William A. Wellman and written by Ernest K. Gann who also wrote the novel on which his screenplay was based. The film's cast was headlined by John Wayne, who was also the project's co-producer...
, he became the first composer to publicly list and thank the great European masters, including Beethoven, Strauss, and Brahms, among others.
Music historian Christopher Palmer states that Tiomkin's "genius lay in coming up with themes and finding vivid ways of creating sonic color appropriate to the story and visual image, not in his ability to combine the themes into a complex symphonic structure that could stand on its own." In addition he speculates how a Russian-born pianist like Tiomkin, who was educated at a respected Russian music conservatory, could have become so successful in the American film industry:
Tiomkin himself alluded to this relationship in his autobiography:
Techniques of composing
Tiomkin's methods of composing a film score have been analyzed and described by music experts. Musicologist Dave Epstein, for one, has explained that after Tiomkin reads the script, he then outlines the film's major themes and movements. After the film itself has been filmed, he then makes a detailed study of the timing of scenes, using a stopwatch to arrange precise synchronization of the music with the scenes. He completes the final score after assembling all the musicians and orchestra, rehearses a number of times, and then records the final soundtrack.Tiomkin also paid careful attention to the voices of the actors when composing. According to Epstein, he "found that in addition to the timbre of the voice, the pitch of the speaking voice must be very carefully considered. . . " To accomplish this, Tiomkin would go to the set during filming and would carefully listen to each of the actors. He would also talk with them individually, noting the pitch and color of their voice. Tiomkin explains why he took the extra time with actors:
Death
Dimitri Tiomkin died in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England, UK, in 1979 and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
.
Legacy
Dimitri Tiomkin, although born and trained in Russia, has been credited with composing the most memorable film songs ever produced by Hollywood. During the 1950s he was the highest paid film composer, composing nearly a picture each month, achieving his greatest fame during the 1950s and 1960s. Between 1948 and 1958, his "golden decade," he composed 57 film scores. During the single year of 1952, he composed 9 film scores, including High Noon, for which he won two Academy Awards. In the same decade, he won two more Oscars and his film scores were nominated nine times.Beginning with Lost Horizon in 1937, through his retirement from movies in 1979 over four decades later, and up until modern times, he is recognized as being the only Russian to have become a Hollywood film composer. Other Russian-born composers, such as Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
, wrote their scores for Broadway plays, many of which were later adapted to film.
Tiomkin was the first film score composer to write both the title theme song and the score. That technique was exemplified in many of his westerns, including High Noon and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, where the main theme song became a common thread running through the entire film. For the film Red River, for example, his biographer Christopher Palmer describes how the music immediately sets the epic and heroic tone for the film:
Because of this stylistic contribution to westerns, along with other film genres, using title and ongoing theme songs, he had the greatest impact on Hollywood films in the following decades up until the present. With many of his songs being used in the title of films, Tiomkin created what composer Irwin Bazelon
Irwin Bazelon
Irwin Bazelon was an American composer of contemporary classical music.Contemporary American composer Irwin Bazelon’s music is known for its interesting rhythms and its emphasis on the brass and percussion sections. In total, Bazelon composed nine symphonies and over sixty orchestral, chamber, and...
called "title song mania." In subsequent decades, studios often attempted to create their own hit songs to both sell as a soundtrack and to enhance the movie experience, with a typical example being the film score for Titanic.
He was known to use "source music" in his scores, which some experts claim were often based on Russian folk songs. Much of his film music, especially for westerns, was used to create an atmosphere of "broad, sweeping landscapes," with a prominent use of chorus. During a TV interview, he credited his love of the European classic composers along with his ability to adapt American folk music styles to creating grand American theme music.
A number of Tiomkin's film scores were released on LP soundtrack albums, including Giant and The Alamo. Some of the recordings, which usually featured Tiomkin conducting his own music, have been reissued on CD. The theme song to High Noon has been recorded by many artists, with one German CD producer, Bear Family Records, producing a CD with 25 different artists performing that one song.
In 1999, the U.S. Postal Service added his image to their "Legends of American Music" stamp series. The series began with the issuance of the Elvis Presley in 1993, and Tiomkin's image was added as part of their "Hollywood Composers" selection.
In 1976, RCA Victor released Lost Horizon: The Classic Film Scores of Dimitri Tiomkin (US catalogue #ARL1-1669, UK catalogue #GL 43445) with Charles Gerhardt
Charles Gerhardt (conductor)
Charles Allan Gerhardt was a conductor, record producer, and arranger.-Early years:Gerhardt grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he studied the piano at age five and composition at age nine...
and the National Philharmonic Orchestra
National Philharmonic Orchestra
The National Philharmonic Orchestra was a British orchestra created exclusively for recording purposes. It was founded by RCA producer Charles Gerhardt and orchestra leader / contractor Sidney Sax due in part to the requirements of the Reader's Digest-History:...
. Featuring highlights from various Tiomkin scores, the album was later reissued by RCA on CD with Dolby Surround Sound.
The American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
ranked Tiomkin's score for High Noon
High Noon
High Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself...
#10 on their list of the greatest film scores
AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores is a list of the top 25 film scores in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute in 2005.-The List:-External links:**...
. His scores for the following films were also nominated for the list:
- The AlamoThe Alamo (1960 film)The Alamo is a 1960 American historical epic released by United Artists. The film was directed by John Wayne, who also starred as Davy Crockett. The cast also includes Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William B...
(1960) - Dial M for MurderDial M for MurderDial M for Murder is a 1954 American thriller film adapted from a successful stage play by Frederick Knott, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, and Robert Cummings. The movie was released by the Warner Bros...
(1954) - Duel in the Sun (1946)
- Friendly PersuasionFriendly Persuasion (film)Friendly Persuasion is a 1956 Civil War film starring Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer, Robert Middleton and Phyllis Love. The screenplay was adapted by Michael Wilson from the 1945 novel The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West, and was directed by William Wyler...
(1956) - The Guns of NavaroneThe Guns of Navarone (film)The Guns of Navarone is a 1961 British-American Action/Adventure war film based on the 1957 novel of the same name about the Dodecanese Campaign of World War II by Scottish thriller writer Alistair MacLean. It stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, along with Anthony Quayle and Stanley...
(1961) - Lost Horizon (1937)
Academy Awards
- 1972 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song" Score for ChaikovskyTchaikovsky (film)Tchaikovsky is a 1969 Soviet film directed by Igor Talankin. It featured Innokenty Smoktunovsky in the role of the famous Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky...
(1969) - 1965 - nominated for "Best Music, Score - Substantially Original" for: The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
- 1964 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" and "Best Music, Score - Substantially Original" for 55 Days at Peking55 Days at Peking55 Days at Peking is a 1963 historical epic film starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven, made by Samuel Bronston Productions, and released by Allied Artists. The movie was produced by Samuel Bronston and directed by Nicholas Ray, Andrew Marton , and Guy Green...
(1963) - 1962 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for Town Without PityTown Without PityTown Without Pity is a 1961 American, Austrian and West German international co-production film drama starring Kirk Douglas, directed by Gottfried Reinhardt. It was made by Mirisch Productions for United Artists....
(1961) and for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for The Guns of NavaroneThe Guns of Navarone (film)The Guns of Navarone is a 1961 British-American Action/Adventure war film based on the 1957 novel of the same name about the Dodecanese Campaign of World War II by Scottish thriller writer Alistair MacLean. It stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, along with Anthony Quayle and Stanley...
(1961) - 1961 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" and for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for The AlamoThe Alamo (1960 film)The Alamo is a 1960 American historical epic released by United Artists. The film was directed by John Wayne, who also starred as Davy Crockett. The cast also includes Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William B...
(1960) - 1961 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for The Young LandThe Young LandThe Young Land is a 1959 American Western drama film directed by Ted Tetzlaff starring Patrick Wayne and Dennis Hopper. The cinematography was by Technicolor developer Winton C. Hoch and Henry Sharp. The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures Corporation.It is the third and final of only 3 films...
(1959) - 1959 - won an Oscar for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for The Old Man and the SeaThe Old Man and the Sea (1958 film)The Old Man and the Sea is a 1958 film starring Spencer Tracy, in a portrayal for which he was nominated for a best actor Oscar. The screenplay was adapted by Peter Viertel from the novella of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, and the film was directed by John Sturges...
(1958) - 1958 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for Wild Is the WindWild Is the WindWild Is the Wind is a 1957 film which tells the story of a rancher who marries his Italian sister-in-law after the passing of his wife, but she falls in love with his young ranch-hand. It stars Anna Magnani, Anthony Quinn and Anthony Franciosa....
(1957) - 1957 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for Friendly PersuasionFriendly Persuasion (song)"Friendly Persuasion" is a popular song with music by Dimitri Tiomkin and lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. It was published in 1956 and appeared in the 1956 film of the same name.The best-known version of the song was recorded that year by Pat Boone...
, "Best Scoring of a Dramatic Picture" for "Giant" (1956) - 1955 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for The High and the MightyThe High and the Mighty (song)"The High and the Mighty" is a song by Ned Washington and Dimitri Tiomkin from the movie of the same name.At the start of the film's production late in 1953, veteran film composer and musician Dimitri Tiomkin was commissioned to write the film's Academy Award winning score...
(1954) and won an Oscar for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for the same movie - 1953 - won (with Ned Washington) an Oscar for "Best Music, Original Song" for High NoonHigh NoonHigh Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself...
(1952) for "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'", sung by Tex Ritter - 1953 - won an Oscar for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for High NoonHigh NoonHigh Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself...
(1952) - 1950 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for Champion (1949)
- 1945 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for The Bridge of San Luis ReyThe Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944 film)The Bridge of San Luis Rey is a 1944 drama film made by Benedict Bogeaus Productions and released by United Artists. It was produced and directed by Rowland V. Lee with Benedict Bogeaus as co-producer. The screenplay by Howard Estabrook and Herman Weissman was adapted from the novel The Bridge of...
(1944) - 1944 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for The Moon and SixpenceThe Moon and Sixpence (film)The Moon and Sixpence is a 1942 film adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel of the same name. George Sanders stars as a London stockbroker who gives up his career, wife and children to become a painter...
(1943) - 1943 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for The Corsican BrothersThe Corsican BrothersThe Corsican Brothers is a novella by Alexandre Dumas, père first published in 1844. It has been adapted many times on the stage and in film.-Adaptations:*The Corsican Brothers , directed by film pioneer and inventor George Albert Smith...
(1941) - 1940 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring" for Mr. Smith Goes to WashingtonMr. Smith Goes to WashingtonMr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American drama film starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart about one man's effect on American politics. It was directed by Frank Capra and written by Sidney Buchman, based on Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story. Mr...
(1939)
Golden Globes
- 1965 for "Best Original Score" for The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
- 1962 for "Best Motion Picture Score" for The Guns of Navarone (1961) AND for "Best Motion Picture Song" for Town Without Pity (1961)
- 1961 for "Best Original Score" for The Alamo (1960)
- 1957 he received the "Special Award" as "Recognition for film music"
- 1955 he received the "Special Award" "For creative musical contribution to Motion Picture"
- 1953 for "Best Motion Picture Score" for High Noon (1952)
External links
Multimedia links
- Audio clips, 40 film samples, audio score compilation by Berny Debney, 10 minutes