Alex North Alex North

Born: 4 December 1910, Chester, Pennsylvania.
Died:8 September 1991.

Biography:
Alex North was one of the most respected composers ever to work in film. North studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, the Juilliard School in New York (where he was a protégé of Aaron Copland), and at the Moscow Conservatory. His work in Moscow led to him being the music director of the Latvian State Theatre between 1932-1940, and during his time in the Eastern bloc, wrote numerous ballets. During World War II, North was a captain in the US Army, and wrote music for propaganda documentaries. He returned to the USA in the late 1940s, where his works for the stage and the concert hall included a "Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra" commissioned by Benny Goodman, a symphony for the Guggenheim Institute, three Broadway musicals, and theatre productions of "Death of a Salesman" and "The Innocents" that eventually earned him an invitation to Hollywood to write the score for "A Streetcar Named Desire" in 1951. The groundbreaking jazz North utilized earned him the first of fifteen Oscar nominations, and cemented his career in Hollywood. Over the next 35 years, North worked with great directors including Stanley Kubrick and John Huston, and wrote such classic scores as "Viva Zapata!" (1952), "The Rose Tattoo" (1955), "Spartacus" (1960), "Cleopatra" (1963), "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966), "The Shoes of the Fisherman" (1968), "Bite the Bullet" (1975), and 1980s box-office hits such as "Prizzi's Honor" (1985) and "Good Morning Vietnam" (1988). Despite his fifteen Academy Awards nominations, North never won the Oscar - an omission that was rectified in 1986, when he received a special Academy Award for his lifetime achievement in film music- the only composer to be so honored. Somewhat strangely, probably North's two most famous works are two of his most obscure: his hit single, Unchained Melody, co-written with Hy Zaret for the little-seen 1955 movie "Unchained", has been recorded over 500 times by artists including Elvis Presley, Sarah McLachlan, John Lennon, James Galway and, most famously, The Righteous Brothers. When Maurice Jarre's score for "Ghost" was Oscar nominated in 1990, there were some who felt the citation should have been shared by North, whose haunting song melody permeated the film. Similarly, North wrote and recorded a full symphonic score for Kubrick's masterpiece "2001: A Space Odyssey" in 1968, only for it to be rejected by the testy director and replaced with classical cuts by Strauss, Khactaturian and Holst. Only recently has North's previously unheard score finally been released, conducted by North's great friend Jerry Goldsmith for the Varése Sarabande label. North retired from scoring in 1990, and died on 8 September 1991. He is survived by his wife Anne, and three children (his son, Steven, is a film producer).

Reviews:
Africa and Dragonslayer

Filmography:
The Last Butterfly (1990), The Penitent (1988), The Dead (1987), Good Morning Vietnam (1987), Prizzi's Honor (1985), Death of a Salesman (1985), Under the Volcano (1984), Sister, Sister (1982), Dragonslayer (1981), Carny (1980), Wise Blood (1979), Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978), The Word (1978), Breaking Point (1976), The Passover Plot (1976), Rich Man Poor Man (1976), Bite the Bullet (1975), Journey Into Fear (1975), Lost in the Stars (1974), Shanks (1974), Once Upon a Scoundrel (1973), Pocket Money (1972), Willard (1971), A Dream of Kings (1969), Hard Contract (1969), The Devil's Brigade (1968), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Africa (1967), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), Cheyenne Autumn (1964), The Outrage (1964), Cleopatra (1963), All Fall Down (1962), The Children's Hour (1961), Sanctuary (1961), The Misfits (1961), Spartacus (1960), The Sound and the Fury (1959), The Wonderful Country (1959), The Long Hot Summer (1958), Hot Spell (1958), South Seas Adventure (1958), Stage Struck (1958), The Bad Seed (1956), Four Girls in Town (1956), The King and Four Queens (1956), The Rainmaker (1956), Daddy Long Legs (1955), I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955), Man With the Gun (1955), The Racers (1955), The Rose Tattoo (1955), Unchained (1955), Desirée (1954), Go, Man, Go! (1954), Viva Zapata! (1952), Les Misérables (1952), The Member of the Wedding (1952), Pony Soldier (1952), Death of a Salesman (1951), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), The 13th Letter (1951).

Highest Grossing Films (adjusted for inflation):
Unavailable at this time.

Awards:
1985 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - Under the Volcano
1982 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - Dragonslayer
1976 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - Bite the Bullet
1975 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Dramatic Score - Shanks
1969 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Dramatic Score - The Shoes of the Fisherman
1967 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1966 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - The Agony and the Ecstasy
1964 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - Cleopatra
1961 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - Spartacus
1957 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - The Rainmaker
1956 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - The Rose Tattoo
1956 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Song - "Unchained Melody" from Unchained
1953 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - Viva Zapata!
1952 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - Death of a Salesman
1952 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - A Streetcar Named Desire
1969 Golden Globes - Winner, Best Original Score - The Shoes of the Fisherman
1976 Emmy Awards – Winner, Outstanding Music Composition Series – Rich Man Poor Man
1986 Emmy Awards – Nominee, Outstanding Music Composition for a Mini– Series, Movie, or Special – Death of a Salesman
1979 Emmy Awards – Nominee, Outstanding Music Composition for a Mini– Series, Movie, or Special – The Word

Links:
Alex North Music

2001: A Space Odyssey (Rejected Score) Africa The Agony and the Ecstasy All Fall Down/The Outrage The Bad Seed Bite the Bullet Cheyenne Autumn Cleopatra The Dead Desirée Dragonslayer Good Morning Vietnam I’ll Cry Tomorrow Journey Into Fear The Last Butterfly The Long Hot Summer/Sanctuary The Misfits The Misfits The Racers/Daddy Long Legs The Rainmaker Rich Man Poor Man The Rose Tattoo The Shoes of the Fisherman The Sound and the Fury Spartacus A Streetcar Named Desire Under the Volcano Viva Zapata! Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The Wonderful Country/The King and Four Queens


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