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Paul Sawtell (bornSawatzki, 3 February 1906 – 1 August 1971) was a film score composer active in the United States.
Paul Sawatzki was born 3 February 1906 in Gilwe,German Reich (nowPoland).[1]
Sawtell began his career withRKO, and eventually joinedUniversal Pictures. Sawtell worked on many western and horror films, and also scored theSherlock Holmes filmsThe Pearl of Death andThe Scarlet Claw. In the late 1940s, Sawtell returned to RKO. He also worked for various independent producers, includingEagle-Lion Films' production ofT-Men (1947). He also composed and arranged the uncredited music for theVenice,Italy sequences inThis is Cinerama (1952).
In the late 1950s, Sawtell struck up an alliance with fellow film composerBert Shefter and they produced many film scores together, including those of classic science fiction and horror films such asKronos,It! The Terror from Beyond Space,Return of the Fly,The Lost World,Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (in cooperation with producerIrwin Allen), andJack the Giant Killer in 1962.[2] In 1965 they composed some scores for the directorRuss Meyer, such as the cult classicFaster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! andMotorpsycho. The last score they provided was for the Mexican filmEmiliano Zapata in 1970 shortly before Sawtell's death. Perhaps Sawtell's best-known composition is the main theme for theVoyage to the Bottom of the SeaTV series, adapted from Allen's 1961 feature film, for which Sawtell had written a different theme. He also wrote music forA Date with Judy, a 1940s radio sit-com.
Sawtell had a home near Demuth Park inPalm Springs, California.[3] He died in 1971 and is buried atGlendale, California'sForest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.[4]
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