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Alfred Newman: Biography, Facts and Career

Who is Alfred Newman? An evergreen, sourced profile: biography, key facts and career.

By the Pop Culture Files editorial team4 min read✓ Fact-checked
Alfred Newman
Wim van Rossem for Anefo via Wikimedia Commons · CC0

Alfred Newman (March 17, 1900 – February 17, 1970) was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music. From his start as a music prodigy, he came to be regarded as a respected figure in the history of film music. He won nine Academy Awards and was nominated 45 times, contributing to the extended Newman family being the most Academy Award-nominated family with a collective 92 nominations in various music categories. In a career spanning more than four decades, Newman composed the scores for over 200 motion pictures. Some of his most famous scores include Wuthering Heights, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Mark of Zorro, How Green Was My Valley, The Song of Bernadette, Captain from Castile, All About Eve, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, Anastasia, The Diary of Anne Frank, How the West Was Won, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and his final score, Airport, all of which were nominated for or won Academy Awards. He is perhaps best known for composing the fanfare which accompanies the studio logo at the beginning of 20th Century Fox's productions. Prior to commencing his employment with 20th Century Fox, Newman composed the fanfares which are most often associated with Samuel Goldwyn productions and David O. Selznick productions. Newman was also highly regarded as a conductor, and arranged and conducted many scores by other composers, including George Gershwin, Charlie Chaplin, and Irving Berlin. He also conducted the music for many film adaptations of Broadway musicals (having worked on Broadway for ten years before coming to Hollywood), as well as many original Hollywood musicals. He was among the first musicians to compose and conduct original music during Hollywood's Golden Age of movies, later becoming a respected and powerful music director in the history of Hollywood. Newman and two of his fellow composers, Max Steiner and Dimitri Tiomkin, were considered the "three godfathers of film music".

Quick facts about Alfred Newman

  • Full name: Alfred Newman
  • Born: 1900-03-17
  • Nationality: United States
  • Known as: Actor
  • Wikidata ID: Q367032

Profile compiled from public Wikipedia and Wikidata data. Details can change over time.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Alfred Newman?

Alfred Newman (March 17, 1900 – February 17, 1970) was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music.

What nationality is Alfred Newman?

Alfred Newman is United States.

When was Alfred Newman born?

Alfred Newman was born on 1900-03-17.

Sources

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