Adolph Deutsch

Adolph Deutsch (October 20, 1897 - January 1, 1980) was an Academy Award-winning composer, conductor and arranger. He won Oscars for his background music for "Oklahoma!" (1955), and for conducting the music for "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954) and "Annie Get Your Gun" (1950). The London, England-born Deutsch was also nominated for "The Band Wagon" (1953) and the 1951 film version of "Show Boat" , for which he conducted the orchestra. For Broadway and Hollywood, he conducted, composed and arranged music, but did not write songs, not even for the Broadway shows on which he worked. In addition to his music for westerns and his conducting of the scores for musicals, Deutsch also composed for films noir, including "The Mask of Dimitrios" (1944), "The Maltese Falcon" (1941), and "Nobody Lives Forever" (1946), and the Billy Wilder comedies "The Apartment" (1960), and "Some Like It Hot" (1959).

In 1914, Deutsch was "a Buffalo movie house musician", accompanying silent films. ["Buffalo News", April 15, 1944]

Deutsch began his composing career on Broadway in the 1920s and 1930s before working for Hollywood films beginning in the late 1930s. For Broadway, he orchestrated Irving Berlin's "As Thousands Cheer" and George and Ira Gershwin's "Pardon My English".

"Oklahoma!" (1955) was filmed using the Todd-AO process which was developed by the American Optical Company in Buffalo, New York, where Deutsch got his start.

He retired in 1961.

References