Person Details

Birthday: 1889-12-25 00:57:52

Death: 1982-02-18 00:57:52

Aliases: Naftule Schüldkraut , Nat Shilkret

Gender: Male

Place of birth: New York City, New York, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 64

TV Involvements: 0


Most Famous Work

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nathaniel Shilkret (December 25, 1889 – February 18, 1982) was an American composer, conductor, clarinetist, pianist, business executive, and music director. Shilkret was born in New York City to a musical family of Austrian immigrants. His father played a number of instruments, and made certain that Nat and his three brothers were all accomplished musicians at an early age. Nathaniel Shilkret's brother-in-law, Nathaniel Finston, was violinist in many organizations in his youth and was musical director for Paramount and later for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, at one time being Nathaniel Shilkret's boss. Shilkret moved to Los Angeles in late 1935 and there contributed music scores and musical direction for a string of Hollywood films for RKO (as musical director from 1935—1937), Walter Lantz Productions (one of the studio's musical directors during 1937) and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (as a musical director from 1942—1946). His films included Mary of Scotland (1936), Swing Time (1936), The Plough and the Stars, and Shall We Dance? (1937) and several films of Laurel and Hardy. He also received an Oscar nomination for his work scoring the film version of Maxwell Anderson's stage drama Winterset (1936). In 1939, he conducted a group of soloists (including tenor Jan Peerce) and the Victor Symphony Orchestra for RCA Victor's multi-disc tribute to Victor Herbert, which were recorded following a special NBC radio broadcast, and he recorded a number of other albums in 1939 and 1940. Due to a serious abdominal operation for cancer removal, he did not conduct for most of 1941. In 1944–45, Shilkret led the collaborative project that created Genesis Suite, a work for narrator, chorus, and orchestra based on the events in the biblical Book of Genesis. This collaboration involved Shilkret, plus six other composers who immigrated to the United States from Europe – most of whom were Jewish – contributing one movement each: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Darius Milhaud, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Alexandre Tansman and Ernst Toch. Shilkret tried to involve also Béla Bartók into the collaborative project, but this was unsuccessful. He worked at RKO-Pathe, making short films from 1946 through the mid-1950s. During this same period he recorded at least 260 transcriptions for SESAC. He was the pit orchestra conductor for the Broadway show Paris '90 in 1952. He lived in his son's home in Franklin Square, NY, from the mid-1950s until his death in 1982 and was a Great Uncle of actress Julie Warner.

Most Famous Work

Swing Time
Average
7

Swing Time

(1936) Music Director
Flying Padre
Average
5

Flying Padre

(1951) Music
The Falcon Takes Over
Average
6

The Falcon Takes Over

(1942) Additional Music
Mary of Scotland
Average
6

Mary of Scotland

(1936) Original Music Composer
The Bohemian Girl
Average
6

The Bohemian Girl

(1936) Original Music Composer
Lost in a Harem
Average
6

Lost in a Harem

(1944) Original Music Composer
Above Suspicion
Average
6

Above Suspicion

(1943) Additional Music
Winterset
Average
5

Winterset

(1936) Music

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
1925 Self
Year Character Movie/Tv

Sound

Year Role Movie/Tv
1993 Music
1951 Music
1949 Music
1947 Music
Music
1946 Music
1945 Original Music Composer
Music
1944 Music
Music
Music
Original Music Composer
Music
Music
Original Music Composer
Music
1943 Music
Music
Music
Music
Original Music Composer
Music
Music
Original Music Composer
Music
Music
1941 Music Director
1939 Music
1938 Music
Music
1937 Original Music Composer
Music Director
Original Music Composer
Original Music Composer
Original Music Composer
Music Director
Music
Original Music Composer
Original Music Composer
Music Director
1936 Music Director
Music Director
Music
Music Director
Music Director
Original Music Composer
Original Music Composer
1935 Conductor
Music
Conductor
1934 Music
Music Director
Music
Music
1930 Music
Music Director
Music
1928 Original Music Composer
1925 Music Director
Year Role Movie/Tv

Crew

Year Role Movie/Tv
1946 Cinematography
1943 Additional Music
1942 Additional Music
1937 Additional Music
Year Role Movie/Tv

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