Walter Scharf | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1910-08-01)August 1, 1910 Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Died | February 24, 2003(2003-02-24) (aged 92) |
| Genres | Film, TV, stage and radio |
| Occupations |
|
| Instrument | Piano |
| Labels | Jubilee Records |
Walter Scharf (August 1, 1910 – February 24, 2003) was an American musician, best known as a film, television and concert composer and arranger/conductor.
Born inManhattan, he was the son ofYiddish theatre comic Bessie Zwerling. While in his 20s, he was one of the orchestrators forGeorge Gershwin'sBroadway musicalGirl Crazy, became singerHelen Morgan's accompanist, and later worked as pianist and arranger for singerRudy Vallee.
He began working inHollywood in 1933, arranging forAl Jolson atWarner Bros.,Alice Faye at20th Century-Fox andBing Crosby atParamount. He orchestrated the original version ofIrving Berlin'sWhite Christmas for the filmHoliday Inn (1942), and from 1942 to 1946 he served as head of music forRepublic Pictures.
From 1948 to 1954, Scharf was arranger-conductor for thePhil Harris-Alice Faye radio show.
A ten-timeOscar nominee, Scharf worked on more than 100 films, receiving nominations for his musical direction on such pictures asDanny Kaye'sHans Christian Andersen (1952),Barbra Streisand'sFunny Girl (1968) andWilly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971).
In the early 1960s, he was approached byHarold Lloyd to provide new scores for his silent film compilations. Lloyd regarded Scharf's ability to mix comedy themes with big, dramatic orchestral touches as ideal for his brand of 'thrill' comedy.
Scharf implemented a similar style for theJerry LewisJekyll and Hyde-inspired comedyThe Nutty Professor in (1963), working on more than a dozen Lewis comedies overall. He worked on threeElvis Presley pictures includingLoving You (1957) andKing Creole (1958), and with lyricistDon Black, he wrote the hitMichael Jackson single from thefilmBen (1972), which won him aGolden Globe; and scored the popularWalking Tall (1973) and its two sequels. In 1973, he and Don Black wrote the music and lyrics for the London musicalMaybe That's Your Problem (book byLionel Chetwynd).
Scharf composed music for dozens of television dramas includingBen Casey,The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,Mission: Impossible, and the 1979 miniseriesFrom Here to Eternity andBlind Ambition, although he became best known for his music for theNational Geographic Society andThe Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau documentaries, which he scored between 1965 and 1975. He received twoEmmys for the Cousteau series, in 1970 and 1974, and composed an original symphonic work,The Legend of the Living Sea, for a Cousteau museum exhibit aboard theRMS Queen Mary in 1971.
Scharf's initial work for the concert hall wasThe Palestine Suite, written in 1945 and performed at theHollywood Bowl underLeopold Stokowski. After retiring from films and TV in the 1980s, he returned to concert writing, notably withThe Tree Still Stands: A Symphonic Portrait of the Stages of a Hebraic Man, commissioned by theStephen S. Wise Temple and first performed in 1989,[1] and the 1993Israeli Suite. He also wrote an unproduced opera based onNorman Corwin'sThe Plot to Overthrow Christmas.
Scharf died of heart failure at his home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, at the age of 92.[2][3]
Scharf was a ten-time Oscar nominee, working on more than 100 films, receiving nominations for his musical direction on such pictures as Danny Kaye'sHans Christian Andersen (1952), Barbra Streisand'sFunny Girl (1968) andWilly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971).
Scharf received the Golden Score Award from theAmerican Society of Music Arrangers and Composers in 1997.[4]
