Ray Heindorf

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ray Heindorf (August 25, 1908 – February 3, 1980) was an American songwriter, composer, conductor, and arranger. Born in Haverstraw, New York, Heindorf worked as a pianist in a movie house in Mechanicville in his early teens. In 1928, he moved to New York City, where he worked as a musical arranger before heading to Hollywood. He gained his first job as an orchestrator at MGM, where he worked on Hollywood Revue of 1929, and subsequently went on the road playing piano for Lupe Vélez. After completing this engagement, he joined Warner Bros., composing and/or arranging and conducting music exclusively for the studio for nearly forty years. Heindorf, along with Georgie Stoll at MGM, were jazz aficionados well known in the black entertainment community for employing minority musicians in their studio music departments. He undertook the musical direction of Judy Garland's comeback film A Star is Born (1954) and made a cameo appearance as himself in the premiere party sequence where Jack Carson's character congratulates him on a great score. Among Heindorf's other screen credits are 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1935, The Great Lie, Knute Rockne All American, Kings Row, Night and Day, Tea for Two, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Jazz Singer, No Time for Sergeants, The Helen Morgan Story, Marjorie Morningstar, Damn Yankees, Auntie Mame, Finian's Rainbow, and his final musical for Jack L. Warner, 1776. Between 1943 and 1969 he was nominated for eighteen Academy Awards, 17 nominations for Best Score and 1 nomination for Best Song. Heindorf won three, in the category of Best Score of a Musical, for Yankee Doodle Dandy, This is the Army, and The Music Man. His wins for the former two films made him the first to accomplish consecutive wins in a musical category. Heindorf died in Tarzana, California, aged 71, and reputedly was buried with his favorite conducting baton.

Filmography

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1972
1776
Movie Music Supervisor
1971
O'Hara, United States Treasury: Operation Cobra
Movie Original Music Composer
1968
Finian's Rainbow
Movie Original Music Composer
1968
Adam-12
TV show Music Supervisor
1959
-30-
Movie Original Music Composer
1959
The Young Philadelphians
Movie Music Supervisor
1959
Up Periscope
Movie Music Supervisor
1958
No Time for Sergeants
Movie Original Music Composer
1957
The Helen Morgan Story
Movie Original Music Composer
1956
Miracle in the Rain
Movie Music
1956
Serenade
Movie Original Music Composer
1955
Sincerely Yours
Movie Original Music Composer
1955
Pete Kelly's Blues
Movie Original Music Composer
1954
Young at Heart
Movie Original Music Composer
1954
A Star Is Born
Movie Movie Premiere Attendee (uncredited)
1954
Lucky Me
Movie Music Director

More credits

1953
Three Sailors and a Girl
Movie Original Music Composer
1953
Calamity Jane
Movie Music Director
1953
Blowing Wild
Movie Music Director
1953
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
Movie Music Director
1953
I Confess
Movie Music Director
1952
April in Paris
Movie Music Director
1952
Where's Charley?
Movie Music
1952
The Big Trees
Movie Music Director
1951
I'll See You in My Dreams
Movie Orchestra Leader at Kahn Benefit (uncredited)
1951
Come Fill the Cup
Movie Music Director
1951
A Streetcar Named Desire
Movie Music Director
1951
Strangers on a Train
Movie Music Director
1951
Goodbye, My Fancy
Movie Music Director
1951
Lullaby of Broadway
Movie Music Director
1951
The Screen Director
Movie Self (uncredited)
1951
Storm Warning
Movie Music Director
1950
The West Point Story
Movie Music Director
1950
Tea for Two
Movie Music Director
1950
The Damned Don't Cry
Movie Music Director
1950
The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady
Movie Music Director
1950
Young Man with a Horn
Movie Music
1950
Backfire
Movie Music Director
1949
It's a Great Feeling
Movie Ray Heindorf (uncredited)
1948
Adventures of Don Juan
Movie Music Supervisor