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David Raksin

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David Raksin (August 4, 1912 – August 9, 2004)<ref name="AMG">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was an American composer who was noted for his work in film and television. Raksin had more than 100 film scores and 300 television scores to his credit. Some sources called him the "Grandfather of Film Music".<ref>OBITUARY: David Raksin, 92, Grandfather of Film Music Template:Webarchive Published: August 11, 2004</ref>

BiographyEdit

File:Laura (1944) - Trailer.webm
Trailer for Laura

David Raksin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States,<ref name="AMG"/> to Jewish parents (of Russian heritage). His father was an orchestra conductor. Raksin played professionally in dance bands while attending Central High School of Philadelphia. He went on to study composition with Harl McDonald at the University of Pennsylvania,<ref name="AMG"/> and later with Isadore Freed in New York and Arnold Schoenberg in Los Angeles. In New York, Raksin worked as an arranger for Harms/Chappell.<ref name="AMG"/>

One of his earliest film assignments was as assistant to Charlie Chaplin in the composition of the score for Modern Times (1936).<ref name="AMG"/> He is perhaps best remembered for his score for Laura (1944).<ref name="AMG"/> The theme music for "Laura", with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, became a major hit.<ref name="AMG"/> During Raksin's lifetime, "Laura" was reportedly the second most-recorded song in history after "Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish.

Raksin's theme song, "The Bad and the Beautiful" (also called "Love is For the Very Young") for the 1953 film The Bad and the Beautiful (1953) was also a hit,<ref name="LarkinGE">Template:Cite book</ref> although not as popular as "Laura". Raksin insisted that the song be released as an instrumental, because he had resented having to split the proceeds from "Laura" with a lyricist. Raksin's theme for "The Bad and the Beautiful" was initially disliked by the film's director Vincente Minnelli and producer John Houseman, but was saved from rejection by the intervention of Adolph Green and Betty Comden, who both liked it. The theme has since been praised by Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Rosenman, Richard Rodney Bennett, and Alexander Courage. Sondheim reportedly called it "one of the best themes ever written in films."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Raksin also scored the 1958 film Separate Tables, for which he earned an Academy Award nomination.<ref name="LarkinGE"/>

In the 1960s, Raksin wrote the theme for (and scored the pilot of) the medical drama television series Ben Casey. Later in life, Raksin taught at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Raksin died in 2004, aged 92.<ref name="AMG"/> At the time of his death, it was announced that Raksin had completed his autobiography, titled If I Say So Myself.<ref> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}.</ref> The book was eventually published under the title The Bad and the Beautiful: My Life in a Golden Age of Film Music.

In 2012, he was named for a Lifetime Achievement Award for a Past Film Composer.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

His son Alex is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times.<ref>Schott & Co. Ltd. recorder score RMS 850 (1957)</ref>

Select film and TV scoresEdit

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Work on BroadwayEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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InterviewsEdit

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