Alfred Newman

If you're going by sheer number of Oscars won, Alfred Newman was the mightiest of all film composers, with nine naked golden men in his name. Of course, Oscars don't necessarily guarantee quality--just ask (as of this writing) James Newton Howard, Danny Elfman, Basil Poledouris, Alfred's son Thomas, and, on the flip side, Gustavo Santaolalla and Michael Gore. Yet Newman truly was a remarkable talent; if nothing else, his renowned fanfare for the 20th Century Fox logo alone cements his eminence as a composer. As head of the Fox music department, Newman conducted, arranged, and supervised a multitude of scores, yet it is his own compositions that showcase his true talent. Unlike many of his contemporaries (Steiner, Rozsa, Waxman, Korngold) Newman was American-born. One of his first early scores was for Wuthering Heights in 1939, in which he captured the romantic yearning of the admittedly miserable Heathcliff and Catherine. Other highlights include Gunga Din, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, All About Eve, The Robe, The Seven Year Itch, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, The Diary of Anne Frank, How the West Was Won, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and Airport. He also specialized in adapting Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals for film, including Carousel, The King and I, South Pacific, Flower Drum Song, and State Fair.

Newman left his mark upon the world of music in other ways as well. His brothers Lionel and Emil were film composers and conductors, as are his sons Thomas and David and his nephew Randy. But Newman's own versatility, craft, and talent made for an incredible legacy of salad dressing scores worthy of approbation.


Wuthering Heights