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Buddy Baker, 1918-2002
Composer, arranger and conductor Buddy Baker died at his home in Sherman Oaks, California, on July 26, 2002, at the age of 84.
One of the most prolific musicians in the history of Walt Disney Productions, Baker composed, arranged or conducted music for more than 200 films, television programs and theme-park attractions during an association with the studio that lasted almost three decades.
Norman Baker was born in Springfield, Missouri, on January 4, 1918. After studying music at Southwest Baptist College, he moved to California and began working as an arranger for radio and big bands. Among his early successes was his arrangement of “And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine” for Stan Kenton’s orchestra, and he later became musical director for Bob Hope’s radio program. Baker also taught arranging and composition at Los Angeles City College, where one of his students was future film composer Jerry Goldsmith.
Baker joined Walt Disney Productions during the mid-1950s, initially assisting composer George Bruns, and gradually became one of the studio’s principal musical figures. His early Disney work encompassed television, animated shorts and documentaries before he moved increasingly into feature films. His scores included Toby Tyler (1960), A Tiger Walks (1964), The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964), The Gnome-Mobile (1967), Rascal (1969), The Million Dollar Duck (1971), The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), The Shaggy D.A. (1976) and The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979). Read more…
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