MOVIE MUSIC UK

Composer, arranger and musical director Billy Goldenberg died at his home in New York City on August 3, 2020, at the age of 84.

One of the most prolific and versatile composers in American television during the 1970s and 1980s, Goldenberg wrote music for dozens of series and television movies, including Duel, Columbo, Kojak, The Legend of Lizzie Borden and The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case. He was also an acclaimed Broadway musician and served as musical director for Elvis Presley’s legendary 1968 television comeback special.

William Leon Goldenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, on February 10, 1936. He studied piano from childhood and later attended Columbia College, developing interests in both classical and popular music. After beginning his professional career as a pianist and arranger, he became active in New York theatre and television, eventually working as musical director for several major variety programs.

An important early assignment came when Goldenberg served as musical director and arranger for Singer Presents… Elvis, the 1968 NBC television special that revitalized Elvis Presley’s career. Goldenberg helped shape the musical arrangements accompanying Presley, balancing the show’s large production numbers with the stripped-down performances that reminded audiences of the singer’s original energy.

His film and television career developed rapidly during the early 1970s. Goldenberg became one of the composers associated with Universal Television, where his gift for melody and dramatic orchestration made him especially valuable on mysteries, thrillers and television movies. Among his most important early collaborations was with the young Steven Spielberg. Goldenberg scored Spielberg’s segments of Night Gallery before composing the director’s television feature Duel (1971), starring Dennis Weaver as a motorist relentlessly pursued by an unseen truck driver.

For Duel, Goldenberg avoided a conventional melodic approach, instead using nervous percussion, unusual instrumental effects and increasingly aggressive orchestral textures to mirror the escalating psychological pressure. The music became an essential part of the film’s extraordinary tension and remains one of Goldenberg’s most distinctive dramatic scores. He also worked with Spielberg on the television movie Something Evil (1972).

Goldenberg contributed extensively to the Columbo franchise, scoring the second pilot, Ransom for a Dead Man (1971), and numerous subsequent episodes. His television credits also included Kojak, Banacek, Harry O, The Sixth Sense and Rhoda, while he became particularly respected for his work on prestigious made-for-television films and miniseries.

Among these were The Marcus-Nelson Murders (1973), which introduced the character who became Kojak; The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975), starring Elizabeth Montgomery; The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976); King (1978); The Cracker Factory (1979); Playing for Time (1980); The Atlanta Child Murders (1985); and Kane & Abel (1985). Goldenberg received numerous Emmy nominations during his career and won for projects including Queen of the Stardust Ballroom and The Lives of Benjamin Franklin.

The theatre remained equally important to him. Goldenberg worked as an arranger, conductor and musical director on numerous Broadway productions before composing the score for the 1978 musical Ballroom, with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman and a book by Jerome Kass. Directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett, the show produced the enduring song “Fifty Percent,” performed on Broadway by Dorothy Loudon. Goldenberg received a Tony Award nomination for his score.

His later television work included Around the World in 80 Days, The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, Love, Lies and Murder and numerous other dramatic productions. Although his name was rarely as familiar to the general public as those of the stars and directors he accompanied, Goldenberg’s music helped define the sound of American television drama during its enormously fertile 1970s period.