Emil Newman (January 20, 1911 – August 30, 1984) was an American music director and conductor who worked on more than 200 films and TV series. He was nominated for an
Oscar for his musical direction on the classic ''
Sun Valley Serenade
''Sun Valley Serenade'' is a 1941 musical film directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and starring Sonja Henie, John Payne, Glenn Miller, Milton Berle, and Lynn Bari. It features the Glenn Miller Orchestra as well as dancing by the Nicholas Brothers. ...
'' (1941), contributing to the Newmans being the
most nominated Academy Award extended family, with a collective 95 nominations in various music categories.
Biography
A native of
Connecticut, Newman entered films in 1940 as the musical director on 13 films. He was credited on 25 films in 1941 and 28 in 1942, one of which, ''
Whispering Ghosts'', contained his first (uncredited) contribution as a composer. He had 15 titles in 1943, including "Musical Direction" for the all-black musical ''
Stormy Weather'' and the
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
wartime film ''
Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas'', 19 in 1944, 17 in 1945 and 16 in 1946, including
Hugo Friedhofer
Hugo Wilhelm Friedhofer (May 3, 1901May 17, 1981) was an American composer and cellist best known for his motion picture scores.
Biography
Hugo Wilhelm Friedhofer was born in San Francisco, California, United States. His father, Paul, was a ...
's
Academy Award score for ''
The Best Years of Our Lives'', which he also conducted. Between 1950 and 1965, Newman was the composer on 23 films, most of which were lower-budget
B movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
s, although they also included prestigious pictures such as ''
Hondo
Hondo may refer to:
Places
* Rio Hondo (disambiguation), the name of several locations, derived from the Spanish word for "deep"
Canada
* Hondo, Alberta, an unincorporated community
United States
* Hondo, New Mexico, an unincorporated com ...
'' (1953). He also provided the music for numerous 1950s TV shows.
Newman died in
Woodland Hills, a suburb of
Los Angeles. He is interred at
Forest Lawn Memorial Park in
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...
.
Family connections, marriage and children
Emil Newman's older brother was renowned film composer
Alfred Newman
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 Acad ...
(1901–1970), whose children
Maria,
David and
Thomas are also composers. His younger brother was another famous film composer,
Lionel Newman (1916–1989), whose grandson
Joey Newman
Joey Newman (born September 9, 1976) is an American film composer, orchestrator, arranger and conductor working in the fields of film and television.
Early life, family and education
Newman is a third generation film composer, born into a musi ...
is a film and TV composer. Another brother, Irving, was the father of still another acclaimed film musical personality, songwriter and composer
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist known for his Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early Americana (music), Americana-influenced songs (often ...
. His brother Marc Newman was a film agent representing some of Hollywoods most noted composers including John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Dave Grusin and Marvin Hamlisch. His brother Robert V. Newman was a studio executive and former President of John Wayne's Batjac Productions. Their family is of
Jewish descent.
[MacDonald, Laurence E. ''The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History'', Scarecrow Press (2013)]
Newman was married to bit-part actress Eva May Hoffman aka Eve Farrell. They had two children, daughter Arleen (born 1939) and son William Robert (born August 14, 1937).
William Robert Newman is the father of Jill Newman, Sarah Devries, William Marcus and Jaice Newman. The offspring of Arleen Newman and
Dennis Crosby
Dennis Michael Crosby (July 13, 1934 – May 4, 1991) was an American singer and occasional actor, the son of singer and actor Bing Crosby and his first wife Dixie Lee, and twin brother of Phillip Crosby. He was the father of '' Star Trek TNG'' ...
(son of
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
) are Erin Colleen Crosby and Kelly Lee Crosby. Dennis also adopted Katherine Denise Buelle, Arleen's daughter by her first husband Mike Buelle.
Selected filmography
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Emil
1911 births
1984 deaths
Musicians from New Haven, Connecticut
Jewish American film score composers
Emil
Emil or Emile may refer to:
Literature
*''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life
*''Emil and the Detective ...
20th-century American composers
American music arrangers
American film score composers
American male conductors (music)
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century American conductors (music)
American male film score composers
20th-century American male musicians
20th Century Studios people