Ira Newborn Ira Newborn

Born: 26 December 1949, New York, New York.

Biography:
New Yorker James Ira Newborn first and made a name for himself during the 1970s as a talented session musician, having performed with artists including Diana Ross and Bette Midler, and having appeared with Manhattan Transfer on their short-lived 1970s TV variety series. He made his film music debut in 1980, conducting and arranging the jazz and blues pieces for John Landis's classic "The Blues Brothers", and he wrote his first solo score the following year, for the obscure comedy "All Night Long" starring Gene Hackman and Barbra Streisand. During the 1980s, Newborn established himself as cult teen director John Hughes's composer of choice. Hughes and Newborn worked together on a number of successful Brat Pack projects, notably "Sixteen Candles" (1984), "Weird Science" (1985), "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986), "Planes Trains & Automobiles" (1987) and "Uncle Buck" (1989). At the same time, Newborn wrote what is arguably his most famous piece, the jazz/blues combo theme for the short-lived TV series "Police Squad", and which was used subsequently in the hugely popular "Naked Gun" big-screen spin-offs. Other notable works by Newborn include "Dragnet" (1987) - into which he incorporated Miklos Rosza's famous four-note fanfare from "Danger Ahead" - "My Blue Heaven" (1990), the madcap Mafia/vampire movie "Innocent Blood" (1992), the ultra-successful "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" (1994) and Kevin Smith's "Mallrats" (1995). Typecast as composer of silly comedies, and with very few commercial successes, Newborn sadly dropped out of favor in Hollywood, and has not scored a major film since the turn of the millennium.

Reviews:
The Naked Gun 2½:The Smell of Fear

Filmography:
E-Girl (2008), Angels in the Infield (2000), Autopsy: Through the Eyes of Death's Detectives (1999), BASEketball (1998), Bad Manners (1997), High School High (1996), The Late Shift (1996), The Jerky Boys (1995), Mallrats (1995), Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), The Opposite Sex and How to Live with Them (1993), Brain Donors (1992), Innocent Blood (1992), The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991), My Blue Heaven (1990), Short Time (1990), Cast the First Stone (1989), Collision Course (1989), Uncle Buck (1989), Caddyshack II (1988), The Naked Gun (1988), Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), Dragnet (1987), Guilty of Innocence: The Lenell Geter Story (1987), Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Wise Guys (1986), Weird Science (1985), Into the Night (1985), Sixteen Candles (1984), Doctor Detroit (1983), Police Squad (1982), All Night Long (1981), The Blues Brothers (1980).

Highest Grossing Films as at end of 2007 (adjusted for inflation):
The Naked Gun 2½:The Smell of Fear ($146.2m), The Naked Gun ($135.7m), Ferris Bueller's Day Off ($133.8m), Ace Ventura: Pet Detective ($122.3m), Uncle Buck ($119.1m), Dragnet ($103.9m), Planes Trains and Automobiles ($89.7m), The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult ($86.6m), Sixteen Candles ($49.9m), Weird Science ($47.5m)

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective BASEketball The Blues Brothers High School High The Jerky Boys The Late Shift Mallrats The Naked Gun/The Naked Gun 21/2: The Smell of Fear


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