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Alfred Newman composed the 20th Century Fox fanfare and won nine Academy Awards, more than any other composer. He scored over 200 films including All About Eve 1950, The Diary of Anne Frank 1959, and How the West Was Won 1962. He was the patriarch of the Newman musical dynasty; his children Thomas, David, and Maria also became composers.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Alfred Newman — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Alfred Newman by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Alfred Newman — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Alfred Newman was born in New Haven, Connecticut on March 17, 1901. A child prodigy, he performed as a piano accompanist in vaudeville and in orchestral pits of picture theatres by age eight. He conducted his first orchestra at 17, earning the nickname the boy conductor. By 1917, he moved to New York and conducted Broadway musicals such as George White’s Scandals, building the foundation for his film career.
Irving Berlin invited Newman to Hollywood in 1930 to score Reaching for the Moon. He signed with United Artists and worked for Samuel Goldwyn, then joined 20th Century Fox in 1938. There he composed the studio’s logo fanfare, still in use today. His scores for Wuthering Heights 1939, How Green Was My Valley 1941, and All About Eve 1950 earned multiple Oscar nominations. He became general music director in 1940 and won nine Academy Awards, a record among composers.
Newman married Elizabeth Jane Meakins on February 14, 1931; they divorced in 1939. He then married Mary Lou Dix on December 13, 1940, divorcing in 1943. His final marriage was to Martha Montgomery on November 6, 1947, lasting until his death. He had four children: composers David, Thomas, and Maria Newman, and director Tim Newman. He was brother to composers Emil and Lionel Newman, and uncle of Randy Newman.
Newman’s 20th Century Fox fanfare is among the most recognizable in cinema history. He held the record for most Oscar nominations by a composer until 2006 when John Williams surpassed him. In 1999, he was honored on a U.S. postage stamp in the Legends of American Music series. The Newman family has garnered 92 Academy Award nominations collectively. He is remembered for his perfectionism and innovations like the Newman system for film scoring.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Alfred Newman — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Alfred Newman — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
…Everybody Here in Hollywood Knows His Business, Plus Music.
Little-known facts about Alfred Newman — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Newman fathered composers Thomas Newman, Maria Newman, and David Newman, as well as director Tim Newman. His brothers include composers Emil Newman and Lionel Newman. He is grandfather of composer Julia Newman, uncle of Randy Newman, and great-uncle of Joey Newman.
He composed the 20th Century Pictures logo theme, which was retained when the company merged with Fox films to become 20th Century-Fox; it remains in use today.
In 1940, he garnered four Oscar nominations for four different films.
He holds the record for the most Academy Awards of any composer 9; the closest is Alan Menken with eight.
A child prodigy by age eight, he derived his first income as an accompanist on piano in vaudeville and in orchestral pits. By age 17, he conducted his first orchestra and was tagged the boy conductor. In 1917, he moved to New York to conduct Broadway musicals, beginning with George White’s Scandals.
He invented the Newman system for movie music scoring.
At Irving Berlin’s suggestion to United Artists head Joseph M. Schenck, Newman was invited to Hollywood in 1930 to score Berlin’s comedy Reaching for the Moon. He signed a seven-year contract with United Artists primarily for Samuel Goldwyn from 1931 to 1938. Darryl F. Zanuck coaxed him to join 20th Century Fox, where he served as composer and musical director from 1938 to 1959, becoming general music director in 1940. He was succeeded by his brother Lionel Newman.
Until January 31, 2006, when John Williams received his 44th and 45th Oscar nominations, Newman held the record for most Oscar-nominated composer/conductor, and he won a record nine Oscars.
He had a reputation for perfectionism and for being almost obsessively self-critical.
In 1992, Ken Darby, choral supervisor of The Greatest Story Ever Told, wrote Hollywood Holyland, chronicling what he felt was the butchering of Newman’s score in the final film.
He was one of two film composers to have received four Oscar nominations in the same year; the other was Victor Young, who achieved it twice.
He was nominated for an Academy Award 20 years in succession from 1938 to 1957, including a nine-year stretch from 1938 to 1946 during which he was nominated for at least two different movie scores each year.
He was one of the few arranger/conductors to work on two film versions of the same musical: State Fair 1945 and 1962.
He was pictured on one of six 33-cent U.S. commemorative postage stamps in the Legends of American Music series honoring Hollywood Composers, issued September 21, 1999. Others honored included Max Steiner, Dimitri Tiomkin, Bernard Herrmann, Franz Waxman, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 1708 Vine Street in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.
Alfred Newman passed away on February 17, 1970, a month before his 69th birthday.
He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Eternal Prayer.
The effectiveness of Newman’s logo music for 20th Century-Fox prompted Warner Bros., Universal, and MGM to start using their own fanfare intros in the 1930s. Newman also wrote another memorable fanfare for Selznick International Pictures in 1937.
While Dimitri Tiomkin did the score for Duel in the Sun, Newman contributed to it after its completion.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Alfred Newman.
Celebrities similar to Alfred Newman — same craft, ranked by reach.
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