 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Adolph Deutsch" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Adolph Deutsch | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Adolph Charles Sander Deutsch |
| Born | (1897-10-20)20 October 1897 London, England |
| Died | 1 January 1980(1980-01-01) (aged 82) Palm Desert, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Composer |
| Years active | 1914–1961 |
Adolph Sender Charles Deutsch (20 October 1897 – 1 January 1980)[1] was a British-American composer, conductor and arranger.
Born inLondon, England, he emigrated to the United States in 1911, and settled inBuffalo, New York. His parents, Alex (Alexander) Deutsch and Dena née Gerst, were German Jews.
In 1914, Deutsch was "a Buffalo movie house musician", accompanyingsilent films.[2] Deutsch began his composing career on Broadway in the 1920s and 1930s, and arranged for several American dance bands such as Paul Whiteman and Paul Ash before working for Hollywood films beginning in the late 1930s.[1] For Broadway, he orchestratedIrving Berlin'sAs Thousands Cheer andGeorge andIra Gershwin'sPardon My English.[1]
Deutsch wonOscars for hisbackground music forOklahoma! (1955), and for conducting the music forSeven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) andAnnie Get Your Gun (1950).[1] He was nominated forThe Band Wagon (1953) and the 1951 film version ofShow Boat,[1] for which he conducted the orchestra. For Broadway and Hollywood, he conducted, composed and arranged music, but did not write songs, not even for the Broadway shows on which he worked. In addition to his music for westerns and his conducting of the scores for musicals, Deutsch composed forfilms noir, includingThe Mask of Dimitrios (1944),The Maltese Falcon (1941), andNobody Lives Forever (1946), as well asLittle Women (the 1949 adaptation), and theBilly Wilder comediesSome Like It Hot (1959), andThe Apartment (1960).[3] His final film wasGo Naked in the World.
Deutsch died of heart failure inPalm Desert, California, on 1 January 1980, at the age of 82.[4]
