MOVIE MUSIC UK

Composer, conductor, arranger and music executive Lionel Newman died in Los Angeles ten years ago today, on February 3, 1989, at the age of 73, following a heart attack.

A member of Hollywood’s extraordinary Newman musical dynasty, he spent more than four decades at 20th Century Fox, eventually becoming senior vice president of music. Newman received 11 Academy Award nominations and won for his adaptation of Hello, Dolly! in 1970.

Newman was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on January 4, 1916, the youngest of several musically gifted brothers, including composers Alfred and Emil Newman. He began working professionally while still a teenager, conducted for producer Earl Carroll and spent several years accompanying Mae West before following Alfred to Hollywood. In 1943 he joined 20th Century Fox as a rehearsal pianist and gradually progressed through the studio’s music department as conductor, composer, arranger and musical supervisor.

As an original composer, Newman worked on films including Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), Road House (1948), Love Me Tender (1956), The Proud Ones (1956), April Love (1957) and North to Alaska (1960). His song “Again,” written with Dorcas Cochran for Road House, became a popular standard, while Love Me Tender, Elvis Presley’s screen debut, demonstrated Newman’s ability to work comfortably within the changing musical world of 1950s Hollywood.

His greatest importance, however, was as a conductor and musical director. Newman became closely associated with Fox’s lavish musicals, working on films such as There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954), The Best Things in Life Are Free (1956), Say One for Me (1959), Let’s Make Love (1960), The Pleasure Seekers (1964) and Doctor Dolittle (1967). He was particularly trusted by Marilyn Monroe and served as musical director on most of her Fox productions, including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, River of No Return and Let’s Make Love.

Newman’s Academy Award nominations reflected the breadth of this work. He was nominated for There’s No Business Like Show Business, The Best Things in Life Are Free, Say One for Me, Let’s Make Love, The Pleasure Seekers and Doctor Dolittle, among others. His eventual victory came for Gene Kelly’s Hello, Dolly! (1969), for which he and Lennie Hayton adapted and conducted Jerry Herman’s Broadway score. Their work won the Academy Award for Best Score of a Musical Picture.

As Fox’s senior musical figure, Newman also supervised or conducted some of the studio’s most important dramatic scores. His credits included Cleopatra, Jerry Goldsmith’s The Omen and Alien, and Goldsmith’s groundbreaking Planet of the Apes. His standards in the recording studio were famously demanding, and he played an important role in encouraging younger composers including Goldsmith and John Williams.

Television provided another outlet for his talents. Newman wrote themes for series including The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Adventures in Paradise and Daniel Boone, while his executive responsibilities increasingly encompassed both Fox’s film and television production. He retired from the studio in 1985 after approximately 45 years of service.