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Norman Dale "Buddy"Baker (January 4, 1918 – July 26, 2002) was an Americancomposer who scored many Disney films, includingThe Apple Dumpling Gang (1975),The Shaggy D.A. (1976),The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977),The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979), andThe Fox and the Hound (1981).^[1] He also composed scores for Disney theme park attractions, includingGreat Moments with Mr. Lincoln andThe Haunted Mansion.

Baker was born and raised inSpringfield, Missouri, and got his degree in music fromSouthwest Baptist College. He moved to theWest Coast in the 1930s to arrange music scores for radio, and became the musical director forBob Hope's radio show.

One of Baker's first hits as abig band arranger was "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" for theStan Kenton Orchestra. He later became a professor atL.A. City College in the early 1950s. Among his early students were film composerJerry Goldsmith and jazz drummerLouis Bellson, with whom he composed and arrangedJourney Into Love (Norgran, 1954).^[2]

At about this time, his friendGeorge Bruns asked him to compose music for the Disney television showDavy Crockett and the River Pirates. He stayed on at theDisney studio, and eventually became its music director, as well as chief composer forDisneyland and other Disney theme parks.

Baker was nominated for anAcademy Award for his score for the 1972 filmNapoleon and Samantha. His work is heard in many Disney cartoons and featurettes, includingDonald in Mathmagic Land, which was nominated for a 1959Academy Award (Best Documentary - Short Subjects). In 1978, he composed the music for the firstWalt Disney Home Video logo, known as the "Neon Mickey" logo—a loud string and brass fanfare with a piano and timpani beats.

Baker arranged and conducted most of theWinnie-the-Poohmusical featurettes. He also conducted the music forThe Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh theme park attractions in 1999, at age 81.

The eerie music heard throughoutThe Haunted Mansion at Disneyland was another of Baker's works, as was the infectious theme to Walt Disney World'sIf You Had Wings. He arranged the medley of French classical music that accompanies the filmImpressions de France atEPCOT Center, which artfully integrates works byCamille Saint-Saëns,Claude Debussy andErik Satie, among others. He also wrote the music for theTokyo DisneySea theme park attractionJourney to the Center of the Earth, which opened in 2001.

Baker was named a "Disney Legend" in 1989. He has an honoraryMain Street window over the Car Barn atDisneyland Park, which reads: "Plaza School of Music - Sheet Music – B. Baker."

In 1998, Baker was inducted as aDisney Legend. Baker also received the honor of having his name appear onMain Street, U.S.A.windows at theMagic Kingdom. The window, which can be found above the Car Barn reads: Plaza School of Music - Sheet Music—-Baker.

Baker retired from Disney as the last staff composer still on contract at any studio. Although he occasionally returned to work on theme park, film and television projects, he spent most of his later years teaching film scoring at theUSC Thornton School of Music inLos Angeles, where he remained until his death from natural causes at age 84 in 2002. He was interred atForest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery. In 2004, his wife Charlotte donated his papers to theFales Library atNew York University.

• Buddy Baker atIMDb
• The Fales Library Guide to the Buddy Baker Papers
• Buddy Baker atFind a Grave
• Buddy Baker atThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television

• 1918 births
• 2002 deaths
• 20th-century American composers
• American film score composers
• American male film score composers
• Animated film score composers
• Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
• Disney imagineers
• Exclusive Records artists
• Musicians from Springfield, Missouri
• Southwest Baptist University alumni
• USC Thornton School of Music faculty
• Walt Disney Animation Studios people
• 20th-century American male composers

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