Leigh Harline
This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(April 2009) |
Leigh Harline | |
---|---|
Birth name | Leigh Adrian Harline |
Born | Salt Lake City, Utah | March 26, 1907
Origin | Salt Lake City, Utah |
Died | December 10, 1969 Long Beach, California | (aged 62)
Occupation(s) | Composer |
Leigh Adrian Harline(March 26, 1907 – December 10, 1969) was an American film composer and songwriter. He was known for his "musical sophistication that was uniquely 'Harline-esque' by weaving rich tapestries of mood-setting underscores and penning memorable melodies for animated shorts and features."
Biography
[edit]Leigh Harline was born March 26, 1907, inSalt Lake City, Utah,the youngest of 13 children, to soldier Carl Härlin and his wife Johanna Matilda. His parents came from the village of Härfsta in Simtuna parish, Sweden. They joinedthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsin 1888 and moved toSalt Lake City,Utah,in 1891. In the U.S., they changed their surname to Harline. Leigh was baptized a member of the LDS Church at age eight.[1]
Harline graduated from theUniversity of Utahand studied piano and organ withMormon Tabernacle ChoirconductorJ. Spencer Cornwall.In 1928, he moved to California and worked at radio stations in San Francisco and Los Angeles as a composer, conductor, arranger, instrumentalist, singer, and announcer. In 1931, he provided music for the first transcontinental radio broadcast to originate from theWest Coast.He was then hired byWalt Disneywhere he scored more than 50 tunes, including for theSilly Symphoniescartoon series in the 1930s.
Harline co-scored and orchestrated music byFrank ChurchillandPaul Smithspecifically for Disney's first animated feature-length cartoonSnow White and the Seven Dwarfsin 1937.Snow Whitecontained several classic songs by Churchill and lyricistLarry Morey,including "I'm Wishing", "Whistle While You Work","Heigh-Ho",and"Some Day My Prince Will Come."[2][3]
Harline re-teamed with Smith again to compose the score forPinocchiofor Disney in 1940. He also wrote most of the movie's songs with lyricistNed Washington.The film won theAcademy Award for Best Original Music Scoreand won both Harline and Washington theAcademy Award for Best Original Songfor the song "When You Wish Upon a Star".[2][3]The song went on to be featured on Disney's opening logo since 1985 and serve as the official theme song of theWalt Disney Company.
Harline left Disney in 1941 to compose for other studios. His major credits includeMr. Bug Goes to Town(1941) for Disney's chief competitorMax Fleischer,the Astaire-Hayworth musicalYou Were Never Lovelier(1942), as well asRoad to Utopia(1945),Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House(1948),The Desert Rats(1953),The Enemy Below(1957),Ten North Frederick(1958),Warlock(1959),The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm(1962),The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters(1963), and7 Faces of Dr. Lao(1964).
He died from complications ofthroat canceron December 10, 1969, inLong Beach,California, and is buried inValhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.
Selected filmography
[edit]- The Goddess of Spring(1934)
- The Old Mill(1937)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs(1937)
- Pinocchio(1940)
- Mr. Bug Goes to Town(1941)
- The Pride of the Yankees(1942)
- You Were Never Lovelier(1942)
- Johnny Come Lately(1943)
- Road to Utopia(1945)
- Crack-Up(1946)
- Nocturne(1946)
- The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer(1947)
- The Boy with Green Hair(1948)
- Every Girl Should Be Married(1948)
- Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House(1948)
- It Happens Every Spring(1949)
- The Big Steal(1949)
- Monkey Business(1952)
- Pickup on South Street(1953)
- The Desert Rats(1953)
- Broken Lance(1954)
- House of Bamboo(1955)
- The Last Frontier(1955)
- Good Morning, Miss Dove(1955)
- 23 Paces to Baker Street(1956)
- The True Story of Jesse James(1957)
- Perry Mason(1957)
- The Wayward Bus(1957)
- The Enemy Below(1957)
- Ten North Frederick(1958)
- Man of the West(1958)
- The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker(1959)
- Warlock(1959)
- Visit to a Small Planet(1960)
- The Honeymoon Machine(1961)
- The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm(1962)
- The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters(1963)
- 7 Faces of Dr. Lao(1963)
- Strange Bedfellows(1965)
Sources
[edit]- A Century of Animation(includes photo)
- Disney Legends
- LDS Film Composers
References
[edit]- ^"Mormon Arts Festival 1995 Archive - Merrill Bradshaw".
- ^abErickson, H. (2015)."Leigh Harline".Movies & TV Dept.The New York Times.Archived fromthe originalon 2015-06-30.Retrieved2015-06-27.
- ^abErickson, H."Leigh Harline".AllMovie.Retrieved2015-06-27.
Soundtrack Magazine, Vol. 8/No. 31 1989 by Ross Care
External links
[edit]- Leigh HarlineatIMDb
- Leigh HarlineatFind a Grave
- Finding Aid for Leigh Harline papers,Archives and Rare Books Library, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
- 1907 births
- 1969 deaths
- 20th-century American composers
- American film score composers
- Latter Day Saints from Utah
- Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners
- Best Original Song Academy Award-winning songwriters
- Burials at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
- Deaths from throat cancer in California
- American male film score composers
- Musicians from Salt Lake City
- Songwriters from Utah
- University of Utah alumni
- American people of Swedish descent
- Animated film score composers
- Disney Legends
- Walt Disney Animation Studios people
- 20th-century American male musicians