Leonard Rosenman
Encyclopedia
Leonard Rosenman was an American film, television and concert composer.
, New York. After service in the Pacific with the Army Air Forces in World War II
, he earned a bachelor's degree
in music from the University of California
, Berkeley
. He also studied composition with Arnold Schoenberg
, Roger Sessions
and Luigi Dallapiccola
.
Rosenman composed the scores for such films as East of Eden (1955), Rebel Without a Cause
(1955), Fantastic Voyage
(1966), The Lord of the Rings
(1978), Cross Creek
(1983) and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
(1986). He wrote incidental music for such television series as The Defenders, The Twilight Zone
, Gibbsville and Marcus Welby, M.D.
He also wrote the theme and almost all of the incidental music used for the entire run of the 1960s World War II
television series Combat!. In the 1970s he composed Bass Concerto Chamber Music 4 for bassist Buell Neidlinger and four string quartets with a second bass.
In his 70s Rosenman was diagnosed with Frontotemporal dementia
, a degenerative brain condition with symptoms similar to Alzheimer's disease
.
He died March 4, 2008, of a heart attack at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital
in Woodland Hills, California.
He also received two Emmy Awards:
Life and career
Leonard Rosenman was born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York. After service in the Pacific with the Army Air Forces in 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 earned a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in music from the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. He also studied composition with Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
, Roger Sessions
Roger Sessions
Roger Huntington Sessions was an American composer, critic, and teacher of music.-Life:Sessions was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a family that could trace its roots back to the American revolution. His mother, Ruth Huntington Sessions, was a direct descendent of Samuel Huntington, a signer of...
and Luigi Dallapiccola
Luigi Dallapiccola
Luigi Dallapiccola was an Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions.-Biography:Dallapiccola was born at Pisino d'Istria , to Italian parents....
.
Rosenman composed the scores for such films as East of Eden (1955), Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments...
(1955), Fantastic Voyage
Fantastic Voyage
Fantastic Voyage is a 1966 science fiction film written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby.Bantam Books obtained the rights for a paperback novelization based on the screenplay and approached Isaac Asimov to write it....
(1966), The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings (1978 film)
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 American fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi. It contains both animation and live action footage which is rotoscoped to give it a more consistent look throughout the length of the movie. It is an adaptation of the first half of the high fantasy...
(1978), Cross Creek
Cross Creek (film)
Cross Creek is a 1983 film starring Mary Steenburgen as The Yearling author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. The film is directed by Martin Ritt and is based, in part, on Rawlings' 1942 memoir, Cross Creek.-Plot:...
(1983) and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series and completes the story arc begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek III: The...
(1986). He wrote incidental music for such television series as The Defenders, The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
, Gibbsville and Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical drama television program that aired on ABC from September 23, 1969, to July 29, 1976. It starred Robert Young as a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, and was produced by David Victor and David J. O'Connell...
He also wrote the theme and almost all of the incidental music used for the entire run of the 1960s 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...
television series Combat!. In the 1970s he composed Bass Concerto Chamber Music 4 for bassist Buell Neidlinger and four string quartets with a second bass.
In his 70s Rosenman was diagnosed with Frontotemporal dementia
Frontotemporal dementia
Frontotemporal dementia is a clinical syndrome caused by degeneration of the frontal lobe of the brain and may extend back to the temporal lobe...
, a degenerative brain condition with symptoms similar to Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
.
He died March 4, 2008, of a heart attack at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital
Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital
The Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital is a retirement community, with individual cottages, and a fully licensed, acute-care hospital, located at 23388 Mulholland Drive in Woodland Hills, California...
in Woodland Hills, California.
Awards
Leonard Rosenman earned two Academy Awards:- Barry LyndonBarry LyndonBarry Lyndon is a 1975 British-American period romantic war film produced, written, and directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray which recounts the exploits of an 18th century Irish adventurer...
(1975), for Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation (music by HandelGeorge Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
, SchubertFranz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
and others)
- Bound for Glory (1976), for Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score (the songs of Woody GuthrieWoody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
)
He also received two Emmy Awards:
- Sybil (1976), for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Special (Dramatic Underscore), with Alan BergmanAlan BergmanAlan Bergman is an American lyricist and songwriter.-Life & career:Born in Brooklyn, New York, he studied at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UCLA. His involvement in the entertainment industry began in the early 1950s as a director of children's television shows...
and Marilyn BergmanMarilyn BergmanMarilyn Bergman is a composer, songwriter and author.She was born Marilyn Keith in Brooklyn, New York and studied psychology and English at New York University... - Friendly Fire (1979), for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series or a Special
Filmography
- The CobwebThe Cobweb (film)The Cobweb is a MGM film. It was directed by Vincente Minnelli and based on a novel by William Gibson. It was released on DVD as part of the Warner Archive Collection on January 18, 2011....
(1955) - East of Eden (1955)
- Rebel Without a CauseRebel Without a CauseRebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments...
(1955) - Edge of the City (1957)
- Bombers B-52 (1957)
- Lafayette Escadrille (1958)
- Pork Chop HillPork Chop HillPork Chop Hill , directed by Lewis Milestone, is a Korean War war film based upon the eponymous book by military historian S. L. A. Marshall, depicting the bitterly fierce first Battle of Pork Chop Hill between the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division, and Chinese and Korean Communist forces at the...
(1959) - The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960)
- The Outsider (1961)
- The Chapman ReportThe Chapman ReportThe Chapman Report is a 1962 film made by DFZ Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by George Cukor and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Richard D. Zanuck, from a screenplay by Wyatt Cooper and Don Mankiewicz, adapted by Gene Allen and Grant Stuart from Irving...
(1962) - Hell Is for HeroesHell Is for Heroes (film)Hell Is for Heroes is a 1962 war film directed by Don Siegel and starring Steve McQueen. It tells the story of a squad of American soldiers, who in the fall of 1944 must hold off an entire German company for approximately 48 hours along the Siegfried Line until reinforcements reach them.-Plot:Squad...
(1962) - Fantastic VoyageFantastic VoyageFantastic Voyage is a 1966 science fiction film written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby.Bantam Books obtained the rights for a paperback novelization based on the screenplay and approached Isaac Asimov to write it....
(1966) - Stranger on the Run (1967)
- A Covenant with Death (1967)
- Countdown (1968)
- HellfightersHellfighters (film)Hellfighters is a 1968 American film starring John Wayne, Katharine Ross, Bruce Cabot, Jim Hutton, Jay C. Flippen and Vera Miles. The movie, directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, is about a group of oil well firefighters, based loosely on the life of Red Adair...
(1968) - Any Second Now (1969)
- The Todd Killings (1970)
- Beneath the Planet of the ApesBeneath the Planet of the ApesBeneath the Planet of the Apes is a 1970 American science fiction film directed by Ted Post and written by Paul Dehn. It is the second of five films in the original Planet of the Apes series produced by Arthur P. Jacobs...
(1970) - A Man Called Horse (1970)
- BanyonBanyonBanyon is a detective series broadcast in the United States by NBC as part of its 1972-73 television schedule, though a standalone two-hour television movie was broadcast first in March 1971. The series was a Quinn Martin Production Banyon is a detective series broadcast in the United States by NBC...
(1971) - Battle for the Planet of the ApesBattle for the Planet of the ApesBattle for the Planet of the Apes is a 1973 science fiction film directed by J. Lee Thompson. It is the fifth and last entry in the original Planet of the Apes series produced by Arthur P...
(1973) - The Phantom of HollywoodThe Phantom of HollywoodThe Phantom of Hollywood is a 1974 TV movie starring Jack Cassidy, Skye Aubrey, Peter Lawford, Jackie Coogan, Broderick Crawford, Peter Haskell, and John Ireland...
(1974) - Judge Dee and the Monastery Murder (1974)
- Race with the DevilRace with the DevilRace with the Devil is a 1975 occult thriller and action film starring Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit and Lara Parker. This was the second of three films Fonda and Oates would star in together...
(1975) - Barry LyndonBarry LyndonBarry Lyndon is a 1975 British-American period romantic war film produced, written, and directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray which recounts the exploits of an 18th century Irish adventurer...
(1975; Academy Award) - Sybil (1976; Emmy Award)
- Bound for Glory (1976; Academy Award)
- An Enemy of the People (1977)
- The Possessed (1977)
- The CarThe CarThe Car is a 1977 thriller/horror film directed by Elliot Silverstein and written by Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack and Lane Slate. The film stars James Brolin, Kathleen Lloyd, John Marley, and Ronny Cox, and tells the story of a mysterious car which goes on a murderous rampage, terrorizing the...
(1977) - Nero Wolfe (1977)
- September 30, 1955September 30, 1955September 30, 1955 , originally titled 9/30/55, is a film written and directed by James Bridges.-Plot:Set in an Arkansas college town, the film portrays the reaction of the citizens of the town when they hear that James Dean has died in a car crash. Jimmy J. , a young man who idolizes Dean, is...
(1977) - The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings (1978 film)J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 American fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi. It contains both animation and live action footage which is rotoscoped to give it a more consistent look throughout the length of the movie. It is an adaptation of the first half of the high fantasy...
(1978) - ProphecyProphecy (film)Prophecy is a 1979 horror film directed by John Frankenheimer and written by David Seltzer. It stars Robert Foxworth, Talia Shire and Armand Assante....
(1979) - Promises in the Dark (1979)
- Friendly Fire (1979; Emmy Award)
- The Jazz SingerThe Jazz Singer (1980 film)The Jazz Singer is a 1980 American musical remake of the 1927 classic The Jazz Singer. It starred Neil Diamond, Sir Laurence Olivier, and Lucie Arnaz and was co-directed by Richard Fleischer and Sidney J...
(1980) - Hide in Plain Sight (1980)
- City in Fear (1980)
- Murder in Texas (1981)
- Making LoveMaking LoveMaking Love is a 1982 American film. It tells the story of a married man coming to terms with his homosexuality and the love triangle that develops around him, his wife and another man...
(1982) - Miss Lonelyhearts (1983)
- Cross CreekCross Creek (film)Cross Creek is a 1983 film starring Mary Steenburgen as The Yearling author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. The film is directed by Martin Ritt and is based, in part, on Rawlings' 1942 memoir, Cross Creek.-Plot:...
(1983) - HeartsoundsHeartsoundsHeartsounds is an autobiographical book written by Martha Weinman Lear and first published in 1980 by Simon and Schuster....
(1984) - Heart of the Stag (1984)
- Sylvia (1985)
- First Steps (1985)
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage HomeStar Trek IV: The Voyage HomeStar Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series and completes the story arc begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek III: The...
(1986) - Promised a Miracle (1988)
- Body Wars (1989)
- Robocop 2RoboCop 2RoboCop 2 is a 1990 science fiction action film directed by Irvin Kershner and starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Belinda Bayer, Tom Noonan and Gabriel Damon. Set in the near future in a dystopian metropolitan Detroit, Michigan...
(1990) - Ambition (1991)
- Aftermath: A Test of Love (1991)
- Keeper of the City (1991)
- The Face on the Milk Carton (1994)
- The Color of Evening (1994)
- Mrs. Munck (1995)
- LevitationLevitation (film)Levitation is Scott D. Goldstein film. The motion picture starred the Golden Globe-nominated American actress Sarah Paulson, Ernie Hudson and Benjamin Heflin.-Plot:...
(1997) - Jurij (2001)
External links
- Leonard Rosenman Turns 80 — Film Music Society (September 7, 2004)
- Leonard Rosenman Remembered — Film Music Society (May 1, 2008)
- Guide to the Leonard Rosenman Papers at NYU's Fales Library