David Raskin, composer RIP

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 8/11/04 at 5:47pm

From Today's Birthdays 8/4/2004:

David Raksin 08/04/1912 - 8/9/2004 composer – At Home Abroad; IF THE SHOE FITS (Leila Ernst); tv's & film's Laura; A Big Hand For The Little Lady; Ben Casey; 2 Weeks In Another Town; Wagon Train; Suddenly; The Bad & the Beautiful; Pat & Mike; Forever Amber; The Secret Life of Walter Mitty; 1939 The Hound of the Baskervilles; Three Smart Girls

click on link for NYT Obit

Here's a brief quote:

"According to a 1998 interview with Mr. Raksin done for a 'Live From Lincoln Center' broadcast on PBS, Stephen Sondheim considered the composer's theme for 'The Bad and the Beautiful' (1952) to be 'one of the best themes ever written in films.' However, that movie's producer, John Houseman, and director, Vincente Minnelli, 'looked bewildered as if to say, wow, what in God's name is this?' when Mr. Raksin first played the theme for them. Luckily, there were two other people in the room, and they insisted that the theme was wonderful.

'Those two people were Comden and Green [Betty Comden and Adolph Green, scriptwriters of the movie musical 'Singin' in the Rain'], or the piece would have been out in the rain.'"

Milla
David Raksin NYT Obit Updated On: 8/12/04 at 05:47 PM

[mallardo]

Posted: 8/11/04 at 7:17pm

To me, "Laura" is still the most hauntingly beautiful movie theme ever written.