Herbert Stothart

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Herbert P. Stothart (September 11, 1885 – February 1, 1949) was an American songwriter, arranger, conductor, and composer. He was also nominated for twelve Academy Awards, winning Best Original Score for The Wizard of Oz. Stothart was widely acknowledged as a member of the top tier of Hollywood composers during the 1930s and 1940s. Life and career Herbert Stothart was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He studied music in Europe and at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he later taught. Stothart was first hired by producer Arthur Hammerstein to be a musical director for touring companies of Broadway shows, and was soon writing music for the producer's nephew Oscar Hammerstein II. He composed music for the famous operetta, Rose-Marie. Stothart soon joined with many famous composers including Vincent Youmans, George Gershwin and Franz Lehár. Stothart achieved pop-chart success with standards like “Cute Little Two by Four”, “Wildflower”, “Bambalina”, “The Mounties”, “Totem Tom-Tom”, “Why Shouldn’t We?”, “Fly Away”, “Song of the Flame”, “The Cossack Love Song”, “Dawn”, “I Wanna Be Loved by You”, “Cuban Love Song”, “The Rogue Song” and “The Donkey Serenade.” The year 1929 marked the end of the era of silent films. Shortly after completing his latest musical “Golden Dawn” with Oscar Hammerstein, Stothart received an invitation from Louis B. Mayer to move to Hollywood, which he accepted. In 1929, Stothart was signed to a large MGM contract. The next twenty years of his life were spent at MGM Studios, where he was part of elite group of Hollywood composers. Among the many films that he worked on was the famous 1936 version of Rose-Marie, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. He conducted and wrote songs and scores for the films The Cuban Love Song, The Good Earth, Romeo and Juliet, Mutiny on the Bounty, Mrs. Miniver, The Green Years and The Picture of Dorian Gray. His output included the Marx Brothers' Night at the Opera, the Leo Tolstoy romantic drama Anna Karenina, two Charles Dickens dramas (A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield), and Mutiny on the Bounty, which earned him his first Academy Award nomination. He won an Oscar for his musical score for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Herbert Stothart spent his entire Hollywood career at MGM. In 1947, he suffered a heart attack while visiting Scotland, and afterwards, composed an orchestral piece (Heart Attack: A Symphonic Poem), based on his tribulations. He worked on another (Voices of Liberation), commissioned by Roger Wagner Chorale, when he died two years later at the age of 63.

Most Famous Work

Average

8

The Wizard of Oz

(1939) Original Music Composer

Average

7

The Three Musketeers

(1948) Original Music Composer

Average

7

The Picture of Dorian Gray

(1945) Original Music Composer

Average

8

Waterloo Bridge

(1940) Original Music Composer

Average

7

Mrs. Miniver

(1942) Original Music Composer

Average

7

Pride and Prejudice

(1940) Original Music Composer

Average

7

The Yearling

(1946) Original Music Composer

Average

7

They Were Expendable

(1945) Original Music Composer

Acting

Year	Character	Movie/Tv
1942	Himself	We Must Have Music 1942-01-01 Movie
1940	Self	Cavalcade of the Academy Awards 1940-07-31 Movie
1937	Self	The Romance of Celluloid 1937-08-27 Movie
Year	Character	Movie/Tv

Sound

Year	Role	Movie/Tv
1954	Songs	Rose Marie 1954-03-03 Movie
1949	Original Music Composer	Big Jack 1949-04-12 Movie
1948	Original Music Composer	Hills of Home 1948-11-25 Movie
	Original Music Composer	The Three Musketeers 1948-10-19 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Three Daring Daughters 1948-02-12 Movie
1947	Original Music Composer	Desire Me 1947-10-31 Movie
	Music	The Unfinished Dance 1947-09-19 Movie
	Original Music Composer	The Sea of Grass 1947-04-25 Movie
1946	Original Music Composer	The Yearling 1946-12-18 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Undercurrent 1946-11-11 Movie
	Conductor	Undercurrent 1946-11-11 Movie
	Original Music Composer	The Green Years 1946-07-04 Movie
1945	Original Music Composer	They Were Expendable 1945-12-07 Movie
	Original Music Composer	The Valley of Decision 1945-05-03 Movie
	Music	Son of Lassie 1945-04-20 Movie
	Original Music Composer	The Picture of Dorian Gray 1945-03-03 Movie
	Original Music Composer	National Velvet 1945-01-26 Movie
1944	Original Music Composer	Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo 1944-11-15 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Kismet 1944-10-01 Movie
	Music	Dragon Seed 1944-07-20 Movie
	Original Music Composer	The White Cliffs of Dover 1944-05-11 Movie
1943	Original Music Composer	A Guy Named Joe 1943-12-24 Movie
	Music	Madame Curie 1943-12-16 Movie
	Music	Thousands Cheer 1943-09-13 Movie
	Music	The Human Comedy 1943-03-02 Movie
1942	Music	Random Harvest 1942-12-17 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Tennessee Johnson 1942-12-01 Movie
	Music	Cairo 1942-08-17 Movie
	Original Music Composer	I Married an Angel 1942-07-09 Movie
	Songs	I Married an Angel 1942-07-09 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Mrs. Miniver 1942-07-03 Movie
	Music	Rio Rita 1942-03-11 Movie
1941	Original Music Composer	Smilin' Through 1941-10-01 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Blossoms in the Dust 1941-08-15 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Ziegfeld Girl 1941-04-25 Movie
	Music	Men of Boys Town 1941-04-11 Movie
	Music Director	Andy Hardy's Private Secretary 1941-02-21 Movie
	Music	Come Live with Me 1941-01-31 Movie
1940	Original Music Composer	Pride and Prejudice 1940-07-26 Movie
	Music	Susan and God 1940-06-07 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Waterloo Bridge 1940-05-17 Movie
	Music	Edison, the Man 1940-05-10 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Northwest Passage 1940-02-23 Movie
1939	Original Music Composer	Balalaika 1939-12-15 Movie
	Original Music Composer	The Wizard of Oz 1939-08-15 Movie
	Music Director	Broadway Serenade 1939-04-07 Movie
	Music	Idiot's Delight 1939-01-27 Movie
1938	Original Music Composer	Marie Antoinette 1938-08-26 Movie
	Music	Of Human Hearts 1938-02-11 Movie
1937	Songs	The Firefly 1937-11-05 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Conquest 1937-10-22 Movie
	Original Music Composer	The Good Earth 1937-06-02 Movie
	Songs	Maytime 1937-03-26 Movie
1936	Original Music Composer	Camille 1936-12-26 Movie
	Original Music Composer	After the Thin Man 1936-12-25 Movie
	Music	The Devil Is a Sissy 1936-09-18 Movie
	Music	Romeo and Juliet 1936-09-03 Movie
	Music	The Gorgeous Hussy 1936-08-28 Movie
	Music	San Francisco 1936-06-26 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Moonlight Murder 1936-03-27 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Robin Hood of El Dorado 1936-03-17 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Wife vs. Secretary 1936-02-28 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Rose Marie 1936-01-31 Movie
1935	Original Music Composer	A Tale of Two Cities 1935-12-25 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Ah, Wilderness! 1935-12-25 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Mutiny on the Bounty 1935-11-22 Movie
	Music	A Night at the Opera 1935-11-15 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Anna Karenina 1935-08-30 Movie
	Original Music Composer	China Seas 1935-08-09 Movie
	Music	David Copperfield 1935-01-18 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Sequoia 1935-01-16 Movie
	Conductor	The Night Is Young 1935-01-11 Movie
	Music	Biography of a Bachelor Girl 1935-01-04 Movie
1934	Original Music Composer	The Painted Veil 1934-11-23 Movie
	Original Music Composer	What Every Woman Knows 1934-10-18 Movie
	Music	The Barretts of Wimpole Street 1934-09-21 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Chained 1934-08-31 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Treasure Island 1934-08-17 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Viva Villa! 1934-04-27 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Laughing Boy 1934-04-13 Movie
	Music	Riptide 1934-03-29 Movie
1933	Music Director	Queen Christina 1933-12-26 Movie
	Music	Queen Christina 1933-12-26 Movie
	Music	Night Flight 1933-10-06 Movie
	Music	The White Sister 1933-03-17 Movie
1932	Music	Rasputin and the Empress 1932-12-23 Movie
	Music Score Producer	The Son-Daughter 1932-12-23 Movie
	Original Music Composer	The Son-Daughter 1932-12-23 Movie
1931	Music Score Producer	The Cuban Love Song 1931-11-18 Movie
	Songs	The Cuban Love Song 1931-11-18 Movie
	Music	The Squaw Man 1931-07-21 Movie
1930	Songs	New Moon 1930-12-23 Movie
	Songs	Madam Satan 1930-09-20 Movie
	Music	Madam Satan 1930-09-20 Movie
	Original Music Composer	Call of the Flesh 1930-08-16 Movie
	Songs	Golden Dawn 1930-06-14 Movie
	Songs	The Florodora Girl 1930-05-31 Movie
	Original Music Composer	The Florodora Girl 1930-05-31 Movie
Year	Role	Movie/Tv