Max Steiner Max Steiner

Born: 10 May 1888, Vienna, Austria.
Died: 28 December 1971.

Biography:
Austrian-American composer Maximilian Raoul Walter Steiner was astonishingly gifted as a youth, having been surrounded by classical music giants since his birth – his godfather was the composer Richard Strauss, he received piano instruction from Johannes Brahms and, at the age of sixteen, enrolled at the Imperial Academy of Music (now known as the University of Music and Performing Arts), where he was taught by Gustav Mahler among others, and completing the course of study in two years. He composed and conducted his first operetta, “The Beautiful Greek Girl”, aged 14, and before the age of twenty was making his living as a conductor for the theatre and the concert hall, his father Gabor having been a major theatrical producer in Vienna. With the spectre of World War I looming, Steiner moved to London, and then America, and quickly became a sought-after musical director, arranger, orchestrator, and conductor of Broadway productions; he worked with Victor Herbert, Jerome Kern, Vincent Youmans, and George Gershwin, among others. By the late 1920s the "talkie" had been invented in Hollywood, and Steiner was one of the first composers to become involved with the music side of the fledgling industry. In 1929, Steiner orchestrated the European film version of the Florenz Ziegfield show “Rio Rita” for RKO; in 1933, he revolutionized the film scoring industry with his groundbreaking score for the classic monster movie “King Kong”. Steiner became the head of the music department for Warner Brothers and, over the next thirty years, Steiner would go on to be regarded one of the most respected, innovative, and brilliant composers of film music, and score some of Warner's - and Hollywood's best loved films. Among his incredible 450 or so scores are important titles such as "The Lost Patrol" (1934), "Of Human Bondage" (1934), "The Informer" (1935), "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937), "Tovarich" (1937), "Jezebel" (1938), "Angels with Dirty Faces" (1938), "Gone with the Wind" (1939), "Dodge City" (1939), "Dark Victory" (1939), "All This and Heaven Too" (1940), "Sergeant York" (1941), "They Died With Their Boots On" (1941), "Now Voyager" (1942), "Casablanca" (1942), "Mildred Pierce" (1945), "The Big Sleep" (1946), "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948), "Key Largo" (1948), "Johnny Belinda" (1948), "The Adventures of Don Juan" (1948), "The Fountainhead" (1949), "The Flame and the Arrow (1950), "The Caine Mutiny" (1954), "The Searchers" (1956), "A Summer Place" (1959) and "A Distant Trumpet" (1964). Steiner was nominated for Academy Awards for his scores eighteen times, winning three times, prior to his retirement from scoring in the mid 1960s. Steiner died of congestive heart failure in Hollywood in 1971, aged 83. Years after his death, he remains one of the giants of motion picture history.

Reviews:
King Kong, The Most Dangerous Game, The Son of Kong and The Three Musketeers

Filmography:
Two on a Guillotine (1965), Those Calloways (1965), A Distant Trumpet (1964), Youngblood Hawke (1964), Spencer's Mountain (1963), FBI Code 98 (1963), Rome Adventure (1962), Susan Slade (1961), Parrish (1961), The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961), A Majority of One (1961), Portrait of a Mobster (1961), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), Ice Palace (1960), The Hanging Tree (1959), Cash McCall (1959), The FBI Story (1959), A Summer Place (1959), Fort Dobbs (1958), Darby's Rangers (1958), Marjorie Morningstar (1958), China Gate (1957), All Mine to Give (1957), Band of Angels (1957), Escapade in Japan (1957), Bandido (1956), Battle Stations (1956), The Searchers (1956), Helen of Troy (1956), Come Next Spring (1956), Death of a Scoundrel (1956), The Violent Men (1955), Battle Cry (1955), Hell on Frisco Bay (1955), Illegal (1955), The Last Command (1955), The McConnell Story (1955), King Richard and the Crusaders (1954), The Caine Mutiny (1954), The Boy from Oklahoma (1954), The Charge at Feather River (1953), Trouble Along the Way (1953), By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953), The Desert Song (1953), So Big (1953), So This Is Love (1953), This Is Cinerama (1952), Mara Maru (1952), Room for One More (1952), The Iron Mistress (1952), The Jazz Singer (1952), The Lion and the Horse (1952), The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952), Springfield Rifle (1952), Distant Drums (1951), Lightning Strikes Twice (1951), Raton Pass (1951), Force of Arms (1951), Sugarfoot (1951), Operation Pacific (1951), Close to My Heart (1951), Jim Thorpe - All American (1951), On Moonlight Bay (1951), Without Honour (1950), The Flame and the Arrow (1950), Caged (1950), Dallas (1950), The Glass Menagerie (1950), Rocky Mountain (1950), A Kiss in the Dark (1949), Beyond the Forest (1949), South of St. Louis (1949), Flamingo Road (1949), The Fountainhead (1949), The Lady Takes a Sailor (1949), Mrs. Mike (1949), Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949), White Heat (1949), Johnny Belinda (1948), Key Largo (1948), Silver River (1948), Winter Meeting (1948), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), The Adventures of Don Juan (1948), The Decision of Christopher Blake (1948), Fighter Squadron (1948), My Girl Tisa (1948), The Woman in White (1948), My Wild Irish Rose (1947), Cheyenne (1947), Life with Father (1947), Deep Valley (1947), Pursued (1947), Love and Learn (1947), The Unfaithful (1947), The Voice of the Turtle (1947), Cloak and Dagger (1946), The Big Sleep (1946), Night and Day (1946), A Stolen Life (1946), My Reputation (1946), Tomorrow Is Forever (1946), The Beast with Five Fingers (1946), Her Kind of Man (1946), The Man I Love (1946), One More Tomorrow (1946), San Antonio (1945), Mildred Pierce (1945), Rhapsody in Blue (1945), The Corn Is Green (1945), Roughly Speaking (1945), Saratoga Trunk (1945), The Conspirators (1944), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944), Since You Went Away (1944), Passage to Marseille (1944), Watch on the Rhine (1943), Mission to Moscow (1943), Casablanca (1942), Now Voyager (1942), In This Our Life (1942), Captains of the Clouds (1942), Desperate Journey (1942), The Gay Sisters (1942), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), One Foot in Heaven (1941), Dive Bomber (1941), The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941), Sergeant York (1941), The Great Lie (1941), She Couldn't Say No (1941), Shining Victory (1941), The Letter (1940), Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940), City for Conquest (1940), All This and Heaven Too (1940), Virginia City (1940), A Dispatch from Reuters (1940), Santa Fe Trail (1940), Four Wives (1939), Gone with the Wind (1939), Dust Be My Destiny (1939), The Old Maid (1939), Daughters Courageous (1939), Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939), Dark Victory (1939), Dodge City (1939), The Oklahoma Kid (1939), They Made Me a Criminal (1939), Intermezzo (1939), We Are Not Alone (1939), The Dawn Patrol (1938), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), The Sisters (1938), Four Daughters (1938), Gold Is Where You Find It (1938), The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938), Crime School (1938), Jezebel (1938), The Saint in New York (1938), White Banners (1938), Tovarich (1937), Fight for Your Lady (1937), The Life of Émile Zola (1937), That Certain Woman (1937), The Green Light (1937), Kid Galahad (1937), God's Country and the Woman (1937), First Lady (1937), Slim (1937), A Star Is Born (1937), Submarine D-1 (1937), The Garden of Allah (1936), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), M'Liss (1936), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), Follow the Fleet (1936), Two in Revolt (1936), Winterset (1936), The Witness Chair (1936), The Three Musketeers (1935), Alice Adams (1935), She (1935), Becky Sharp (1935), The Informer (1935), Enchanted April (1935), Grand Old Girl (1935), Laddie (1935), The Silver Streak (1935), Lightning Strikes Twice (1934), The Richest Girl in the World (1934), His Greatest Gamble (1934), Bachelor Bait (1934), Of Human Bondage (1934), Stingaree (1934), Kentucky Kernels (1934), The Lost Patrol (1934), The Age of Innocence (1934), The Crime Doctor (1934), Down to Their Last Yacht (1934), Finishing School (1934), The Fountain (1934), Gridiron Flash (1934), Hat, Coat, and Glove (1934), Hips, Hips, Hooray (1934), Keep 'Em Rolling (1934), Let's Try Again (1934), The Life of Vergie Winters (1934), The Little Minister (1934), Long Lost Father (1934), Man of Two Worlds (1934), Sing and Like It (1934), Spitfire (1934), Strictly Dynamite (1934), Their Big Moment (1934), This Man Is Mine (1934), Two Alone (1934), Wednesday's Child (1934), Little Women (1933), Ace of Aces (1933), Morning Glory (1933), The Cheyenne Kid (1933), Flying Devils (1933), Bed of Roses (1933), Diplomaniacs (1933), King Kong (1933), Sweepings (1933), The Great Jasper (1933), Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men (1933), Ann Vickers (1933), Blind Adventure (1933), Christopher Strong (1933), If I Were Free (1933), Midshipman Jack (1933), No Other Woman (1933), One Man's Journey (1933), Rafter Romance (1933), Rockabye (1933), The Silver Cord (1933), So This Is Harris (1933), The The Son of Kong (1933), The Conquerors (1932), Little Orphan Annie (1932), A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Thirteen Women (1932), The Age of Consent (1932), Bird of Paradise (1932), Roar of the Dragon (1932), The Roadhouse Murder (1932), Symphony of Six Million (1932), The Lost Squadron (1932), Ladies of the Jury (1932), Girl of the Rio (1932), Hold 'Em Jail (1932), Is My Face Red? (1932), Lady with a Past (1932), Men of Chance (1932), The Monkey's Paw (1932), The Most Dangerous Game (1932), The Phantom of Crestwood (1932), The Sport Parade (1932), What Price Hollywood? (1932), Young Bride (1932), Secret Service (1931), Friends and Lovers (1931), Young Donovan's Kid (1931), Way Back Home (1931), Are These Our Children? (1931), Beau Ideal (1931), Cracked Nuts (1931), Fanny Foley Herself (1931), The Gay Diplomat (1931), The Runaround (1931), Transgression (1931), Travelling Husbands (1931), Dixiana (1930), The Bondman (1929).

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

Awards:
1945 Academy Awards - Winner, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - Since You Went Away
1943 Academy Awards - Winner, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - Now Voyager
1936 Academy Awards - Winner, Best Original Score - The Informer
1956 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - Battle Cry
1955 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - The Caine Mutiny
1953 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima
1953 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Musical) - The Jazz Singer
1951 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - The Flame and the Arrow
1950 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - Beyond the Forest
1949 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - Johnny Belinda
1948 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - Life with Father
1948 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Musical) - My Wild Irish Rose
1947 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Musical) - Night and Day
1946 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Musical) - Rhapsody in Blue
1945 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - The Adventures of Mark Twain
1944 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama/Comedy) - Casablanca
1942 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score (Drama) - Sergeant York
1941 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - The Letter
1940 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - Dark Victory
1940 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - Gone with the Wind
1939 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - Jezebel
1938 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - The Life of Emile Zola
1937 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - The Charge of the Light Brigade
1937 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - The Garden of Allah
1935 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - The Gay Divorcee
1935 Academy Awards - Nominee, Best Original Score - The Lost Patrol

The Adventures of Don Juan All This and Heaven Too/A Stolen Life Band of Angels The Caine Mutiny Casablanca Distant Drums Dodge City/The Oklahoma Kid The Flame and the Arrow The Glass Menagerie Gone With the Wind Johnny Belinda King Kong The Lost Patrol/Virginia City/The Beast With Five Fingers Pursued The Searchers She The Son of Kong/The Most Dangerous Game A Summer Place The Treasure of the Sierra Madre They Died with Their Boots On


Home Page | Reviews A-M | Reviews N-Z | Composers | Links

Site copyright © 1997-2008, Jonathan Broxton/Movie Music UK. This page copyright © 2008. All rights reserved. The reviews and articles contained herein may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of the author. Some artwork and multimedia material are © various record labels and artists. All photos, multimedia and album artwork used are for non-profit making, promotional purposes, and no copyright infringement is intended.