Morton Stevens (January 30, 1929 – November 11, 1991) was anAmericanfilm score composer. In 1965, he became director of music forCBS West Coast operations. He is probably best known for composing the theme music forHawaii Five-O, aCBS television series for which he won twoEmmy Awards in 1970 and 1974, and was a gold record forThe Ventures.^[1] Stevens was taught byOscar-winning composerJerry Goldsmith, with whom he frequently collaborated on other projects.

Stevens graduated from theJuilliard School in 1950, and within a few years began working as an arranger/conductor forSammy Davis Jr.^[2] After Davis's longtime conductor,George Rhodes, died in 1985, Stevens was among those who filled that role again sporadically until Davis' death in 1990. In his later years, Stevens worked as conductor for other Vegas legends, includingJerry Lewis, and was musical director for the "Rat Pack" tour featuring Davis, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and—after Martin quit—Liza Minnelli. His classic theme forHawaii Five-O was later re-recorded for theremake of the television series in 2010. He won twoPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for his work onHawaii Five-O and was nominated seven other times for work on television programs, including the 1969Hawaii Five-O pilot episode,Gunsmoke andPolice Woman.

His film work included scores for films and TV movies such asWild and Wonderful (1964),The Spy with My Face (1965),Deadly Harvest (1972),The Strangers in 7A (1972),The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973),The Disappearance of Flight 412 (1974),Code Name: Diamond Head (1977),Wheels (1978),The One Man Jury (1978),Women in White (1979),Great White (1982)They Still Call Me Bruce (1987),Act of Piracy (1988) and theJerry Lewis filmsHardly Working (1980),Slapstick of Another Kind (1982) andCracking Up (1983).

In addition to "Hawaii Five-O", Stevens worked on the earlier smash 1960s CBS Television series dealing with an island of a different kind: "Gilligan's Island", 1964–1967, collaborating on the series withcomposersJohn Williams,Gerald Fried,Frank Comstock, andLyn Murray.

A musical cue by Stevens fromHawaii Five-O was adapted into the introductory music used to accompany the logo for CBS specials from 1973 to 1991.^[3] Stevens also composed "So Old, So Young", used as the theme music (in two separate arrangements) for CBS'primetime (from 1966 to 1978) andlate night (from 1972 to 1985) movie broadcasts.

Stevens died ofpancreatic cancer in Encino, California at the age of 62.^[2]

• Morton Stevens atAllMusic
• Morton Stevens discography atDiscogs
• Morton Stevens atIMDb

• 1929 births
• 1991 deaths
• 20th-century American composers
• 20th-century American classical musicians
• American film score composers
• 20th-century American Jews
• American television composers
• Deaths from pancreatic cancer in California
• Hawaii Five-O (1968 TV series)
• Juilliard School alumni
• American male film score composers
• American male television composers
• Musicians from Newark, New Jersey
• 20th-century American male composers

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