Leonard Rosenman | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Born | Leonard Rosenman (1924-09-07)September 7, 1924 |
| Died | March 4, 2008(2008-03-04) (aged 83) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles,California, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, conductor |
| Instrument | Orchestra |
| Years active | 1955–2001 |
Leonard Rosenman (September 7, 1924 – March 4, 2008) was an American film, television and concertcomposer with credits in over 130 works, includingEast of Eden,Rebel Without a Cause,Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,Beneath the Planet of the Apes,Battle for the Planet of the Apes,Barry Lyndon,Race with the Devil, and the animatedThe Lord of the Rings.[1]
Rosenman was born inBrooklyn,New York,United States.[1] His parents, Rose (née Kantor) and Julius Rosenman, wereJewish immigrants fromPoland. He had a younger brother named Paul. After service in the Pacific with theUnited States Army Air Forces inWorld War II, Rosenman earned abachelor's degree in music from theUniversity of California,Berkeley. He also studied composition withArnold Schoenberg,Roger Sessions andLuigi Dallapiccola.[2]
Amongst Rosenman's earliest film work were the scores forJames Dean moviesEast of Eden (1955) andRebel Without a Cause (1955).[1] The composer had met Dean at a party for the cast of a Broadway play, and two weeks later Dean had appeared at his doorstep wanting to take piano lessons; consequently, the actor had begun to frequent Rosenman's apartment,[3] and it was Dean who introduced him to directorElia Kazan. Dean also lobbiedGeorge Stevens to let Rosenman scoreGiant, but Stevens preferredDimitri Tiomkin.[4]
Rosenman remarked, "The year I did my first film, I had five major performances in New York." But "the minute I did my first film, I didn't have a performance there for 20 years. They would never say, 'I don't like them'. They wouldn't look at them."[4]
He composed the score forVincente Minnelli'sThe Cobweb (1955), regarded as the first major Hollywood score to be written in theTwelve-tone technique. His avant-garde music was used forMartin Ritt'sEdge of the City (1956) andJohn Frankenheimer'sThe Young Stranger (1957).[1] He composed scores for war films such asWilliam Wellman's biographicalLafayette Escadrille (1958),Lewis Milestone'sPork Chop Hill (1959),Delbert Mann'sThe Outsider (1961),Don Siegel'sHell is for Heroes (1962), and theCombat! television series (1962). He wrote incidental music for such television series asLaw of the Plainsman,The Defenders,The Twilight Zone,Gibbsville, andMarcus Welby, M.D..[1]
He went on to composeGeorge Cukor'sThe Chapman Report, thenRichard Fleischer'sFantastic Voyage (1966), where he rejected producerSaul David's instructions. Rosenman stated, "A producer asked me to write a jazz score, and I asked him why. He said he wanted the picture to be the first hip science fiction movie. I said that's a great idea for an advertising agency, but it doesn't fit the film."[5]
He provided scores to science fiction movies likeBeneath the Planet of the Apes (1970),Battle for the Planet of the Apes, the horror movieRace with the Devil, the first animated adaptation ofThe Lord of the Rings (1978), andStar Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986).[1]
In the 1970s, he composedBass Concerto Chamber Music 4 for bassist Buell Neidlinger and four string quartets with a second bass.
In 1983, he composed the score forCross Creek, for which he received an Academy Award nomination.
In 1995,Nonesuch Records issued an album of music from bothEast of Eden andRebel Without A Cause, played by theLondon Sinfonietta conducted byJohn Adams.
In his seventies, Rosenman was diagnosed withFrontotemporal dementia, a degenerative brain condition with symptoms similar toAlzheimer's disease.
He died March 4, 2008, of a heart attack at theMotion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital inWoodland Hills, Los Angeles,California.[6][7]
Leonard Rosenman earned two Academy Awards:
After receiving his second Oscar he quipped, "I write original music too, you know!"[8]
He received two additional Academy Award nominations:
He also received two Emmy Awards:
