Earle Hagen | |
|---|---|
 Earle Hagen in the 1960s | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Earle Harry Hagen |
| Born | (1919-07-09)July 9, 1919 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | May 26, 2008(2008-05-26) (aged 88) Rancho Mirage, California |
| Genres | Soundtrack |
| Occupation | Composer |
| Years active | 1939–2008 |
Earle Harry Hagen (July 9, 1919 – May 26, 2008) was an American composer who created music for films and television. His best-known TV themes includeThe Dick Van Dyke Show,I Spy,That Girl andThe Mod Squad. He is also remembered for composing and whistlingthe theme toThe Andy Griffith Show; writing the instrumental song "Harlem Nocturne" used as the theme for television'sMickey Spillane's Mike Hammer; and co-writing the theme song toTim Conway'sWestern comedyRango.[1][2]
Born inChicago,Illinois, as a boy he moved with his family toLos Angeles,California, where he learned to play thetrombone in junior high school, and graduated fromHollywood High School. At age 16, he left home to join traveling big bands, playing withTommy Dorsey,Benny Goodman andRay Noble. While working with Noble in 1939, he wrote "Harlem Nocturne" as a tribute toDuke Ellington andJohnny Hodges.[1][3] The piece was recorded by many artists, includingJohnny Otis,Randy Brooks,Herbie Fields,Sam "The Man" Taylor,Earl Bostic,Charlie Barnet,The Viscounts,King Curtis,Quincy Jones,Les Elgart,Larry Elgart,Illinois Jacquet, andDavid Sanborn. Later, in a version withBud Shank on alto sax,[4] it was used as the theme for television'sMickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, andThe New Mike Hammer.
He began teaching trombone in the 1930s in order to make extra money. In 1940, he went to work forCBS as a staff musician, then enlisted in the military in 1941. Hagen was an orchestrator and arranger for motion picture studio20th Century Fox in the 1940s and early 1950s, and worked on films likeCall Me Madam,Gentlemen Prefer Blondes andCarousel. He began writing for television when he left Fox in 1952 with partnerHerbert W. Spencer. The two did the musical score forJanis Paige's short-livedsitcom,It's Always Jan, which aired in the 1955–1956 season on CBS. Hagen met television show producerSheldon Leonard when he scored the Danny Thomas seriesMake Room for Daddy.[1][3]
Hagen's most ambitious body of work, however, came from his work onI Spy, for which he won anEmmy in 1968.Sheldon Leonard, the producer and creator ofI Spy, bucked the trend of using canned music for television shows and instead decided to create original soundtracks for every episode. Since every episode ofI Spy was set in a different location, Hagen made liberal use of world music in his soundtracks which were mostly written and performed within theWest coast jazz genre. (Hagen did not claim the West coast jazz affiliation for himself, instead inventing the term "semi-jazz", which he defined as a union of global themes with American jazz.)
Other television theme songs that Hagen composed were the themes forMy Sister Eileen,The Dick Van Dyke Show,Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.,That Girl (along withI Spy, Thomas and Leonard productions), andThe Mod Squad.[1][5] His film work included the scores forSpring Reunion (1956) andThe New Interns (1964).
He was the in-house composer for the 1970s television seriesEight Is Enough (1977–1981).
At the end of his life he continued teaching and wrote books on music arranging and scoring. Sometimes his only fee was a box of golf balls because of his passion for golfing.[1] He wrote one of the firsttextbooks on scoring,Scoring for Films: A Complete Text. In 2000, he published his autobiography,Memoirs of a Famous Composer Nobody Ever Heard Of.[3] Two of his students were fellow Emmy-winning composers and orchestratorsBruce Babcock andHarvey Cohen[6][7]
Hagen was married for 59 years to Elouise "Lou" Sidwell, a former big-band singer, until her death in 2002. They had two sons, James and Deane Hagen. He married his second wife, Laura (Gunn) Roberts, in 2005.[1]
Hagen died of natural causes inRancho Mirage.[1] He is buried atDesert Memorial Park inCathedral City, California.
Hagen had a Golden Palm Star on thePalm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated to him in 2003.[8] He was inducted into theTelevision Academy Hall of Fame in 2011.
