61 Top Film & TV Composers, Past & Present

1. Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Erich Wolfgang Korngold was the son of a well-known music critic. A child prodigy, he accompanied his father in playing four-handed piano arrangements by the age of five. By the age of eleven he drew his first plaudits from enthusiastic Viennese audiences (including the emperor Franz Josef) with ...

"The Adventures of Robin Hood" 1938, was probably his most famous score.

2. Max Steiner

Composer | Casablanca

Austrian composer Max Steiner achieved legendary status as the creator of hundreds of classic American film scores. He was born Maximilian Raoul Walter Steiner in Vienna, Austria, the son of Marie Mizzi (Hasiba) and Gabor Steiner, an impresario, and the grandson of actor and theater director and ...

Who could forget his score for "Gone With The Wind". 1939.

3. William Alwyn

Music_department | Back to the Present!

Virtuoso flautist and composer who taught at London's Royal Academy of Music as a professor from 1926 to 1955. During the war years, he was employed by the Ministry of Information, where he came to the fore as a composer of scores for documentary films which were used for morale building, the ...

Haunting score for "Odd Man Out". 1947.

4. Clifton Parker

Composer | Hell Below Zero

Son of a bank manager, Clifton Parker followed his two elder brothers into the commercial profession, but studied music in private. After obtaining an A.R.C.M diploma in piano teaching at the Royal College of Music in 1926, he continued in commerce for a while before obtaining employment as a music...

His score for the wartime documentary "Western Approaches" 1944, won acclaim.

5. Alex North

Music_department | Spartacus

Alex North studied music at the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia, then won a scholarship to Juilliard in New York (1929) and the Moscow Conservatoire (1933), making him the first-ever American to become a member of the Union of Soviet Composers. In Europe, he worked as music director for the ...

His score for "Spartacus" 1960, was excellent!

6. John Addison

Music_department | A Bridge Too Far

British composer, primarily of film scores. From a military family and the son of a Royal Field Artillery colonel, John Mervyn Addison was born March 16, 1920, in Chobham, Surrey, and attended Wellington College, Berkshire, with plans for a military career. His interest and talent for music ...

The film "Reach For The Sky" 1956 and the signature theme for the TV series "Murder She Wrote" 1984, were firm favourites,

7. Dimitri Tiomkin

Soundtrack | High Noon

Dimitri Tiomkin was a Russian Jewish composer who emigrated to America and became one of the most distinguished and best-loved music writers of Hollywood. He won a hallowed place in the pantheon of the most successful and productive composers in American film history, earning himself four Oscars ...

A legend for composing in so many genres. Too many great scores to single out.

8. Alan Rawsthorne

Composer | Floods of Fear

Alan Rawsthorne was born on May 2, 1905 in Haslingden, Lancashire, England, UK. He was a composer, known for Floods of Fear (1958), The Inheritance (1947) and Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951). He was married to Isabel Nicholas and Jessie Hinchcliffe. He died on July 24, 1971 in Cambridge, ...

Rawsthorne's score for "The Cruel Sea" 1953, always stood out.

9. Malcolm Arnold

Composer | The Bridge on the River Kwai

Born in Northampton on 21st October 1921, Malcolm Arnold studied composition with Gordon Jacob and trumpet with Ernest Hall at the Royal College of Music. In 1941 he joined the trumpet section of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming principal by 1943. After two years of war service and one ...

Won the Oscar for best film score with "The Bridge on the River Kwai" 1957.

10. William Walton

Soundtrack | Last Action Hero

William Walton came from a musical family. He entered Christ Church, Oxford at the early age of sixteen but left without a degree in 1920. A fine musician, he was essentially self-taught as a composer, except some instruction from Hugh Allen, the cathedral organist. Through literary friends and ...

Brilliant scores for "Henry V" 1944 and "Richard III" 1955.

11. Elmer Bernstein

Composer | Far from Heaven

Elmer Bernstein was educated at the Walden School and New York University. He served in the US Army Air Corps in World War II, writing scores for the service radio unit. He also wrote and arranged musical numbers for Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band. A prolific and respected film music composer, ...

My favourite score is "The Magnificent Seven" 1960. Another legendary composer.

12. Jerry Goldsmith

Composer | L.A. Confidential

Born on February 10, 1929, Jerry Goldsmith studied piano with Jakob Gimpel and composition, theory, and counterpoint with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He also attended classes in film composition given by Miklós Rózsa at the Univeristy of Southern California. In 1950, he was employed as a clerk ...

His score for "The Sand Pebbles" 1966, always stood out in my mind. Goldsmith had a great body of work in both film & TV.

13. John Williams

Composer | Jurassic Park

As one of the best known, awarded, and financially successful composers in US history, John Williams is as easy to recall as John Philip Sousa, Aaron Copland or Leonard Bernstein, illustrating why he is "America's composer" time and again. With a massive list of awards that includes over 52 Oscar ...

Absolutely too many great scores to try and single out a favourite.

14. Bernard Herrmann

Composer | North by Northwest

The man behind the low woodwinds that open Citizen Kane (1941), the shrieking violins of Psycho (1960), and the plaintive saxophone of Taxi Driver (1976) was one of the most original and distinctive composers ever to work in film. He started early, winning a composition prize at the age of 13 and ...

I loved Herrmann's score for "North By Northwest" 1959.

15. Miklós Rózsa

Composer | Ben-Hur

A child prodigy, Miklos Rózsa learned to play the violin at the age of five and read music before he was able to read words. In 1926, he began studying at the Leipzig Conservatory where he was considered a brilliant student. He obtained his doctorate in music in 1930. Moving to Paris the following ...

You can't beat his score for "Ben-Hur" 1959, the greatest compostion of all.

16. Henry Mancini

Soundtrack | Breakfast at Tiffany's

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, but brought up in Pennsylvania, where he played the flute in a local band, as a youth, before sending some arrangements to Benny Goodman. Goodman offered him a job and, after serving in WWII, he joined the rearranged Glenn Miller band. In 1952, he was given a two-week ...

Who can forget Mancini's score for "The Pink Panther" 1963.

17. Maurice Jarre

Composer | Lawrence of Arabia

Unlike many musicians who started to learn music while still in their childhood, Maurice Jarre was already late in his teens when he discovered music and decided to make a career in that field. Against his father's will, he enrolled at Conservatoire de Paris where he studied percussions, ...

Two fabulous scores "Lawrence Of Arabia, 1962 and "Doctor Zhivago, 1965.

18. Richard Addinsell

Soundtrack | My Week with Marilyn

English composer Richard Addinsell was born in 1904. After finishing his law studies at Oxford, he took a short course in music at the Royal College of Music in London and studied from 1929 to 1932 in Berlin and Vienna. From 1933 to 1935 he lived in the USA writing scores for the Hollywood studios.

His famous 'Warsaw Concerto', a Rachmaninoff like piece for piano and orchestra composed for "Dangerous Moonlight", 1941, was brilliant.

19. Ron Goodwin

Music_department | Frenzy

Ron Goodwin was born on 17th February 1925 in Plymouth. He was the son of a London policeman who was detached to the harbour-town. His mother felt that piano lessons would be a good pastime, so in his fifth year, the little Ron was hoisted onto a piano-stool and his education on this instrument ...

I have to nominate "633 Squadron" 1964 as being my favourite score of Mr. Goodwin.

20. Richard Rodney Bennett

Composer | Murder on the Orient Express

Richard Rodney Bennett was an eclectic composer of serious orchestral works, jazz songs and music for stage and screen. Of the former, his most famous compositions include a First Symphony, a piano concerto and four string quartets. Among the latter are scores for operas, such as the dramatic "The ...

I think that the score for "Lady Caroline Lamb" 1972, was excellent.

21. John Barry

Soundtrack | Out of Africa

John Barry was born in York, England in 1933, and was the youngest of three children. His father, Jack, owned several local cinemas and by the age of fourteen, Barry was capable of running the projection box on his own - in particular, The Rialto in York. As he was brought up in a cinematic ...

Famous for his scoring for the James Bond series of films, but his "Zulu" 1964, was a stand-out for me.

22. Lalo Schifrin

Music_department | Rush Hour

Immensely talented, Argentinian born pianist, conductor and composer who has written over 100 scores for both television & the cinema including the memorable themes to Mission: Impossible (1966), Mannix (1967), Starsky and Hutch (1975), Cool Hand Luke (1967), and Bullitt (1968). Schifrin has ...

Stand-out score for me was "Bullitt" 1968.

23. Jerome Moross

Composer | The Big Country

Brooklyn-born composer and orchestrator, who graduated from New York University at the age of eighteen. A child prodigy, he was already an accomplished pianist at the age of five and began composing music three years later. His first serious work ('Paeans') was performed in public when he was ...

A score which epitomised the open plains of the wild west was "The Big Country" 1958.

24. Alfred Newman

Music_department | The King and I

Alfred Newman is an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music.

From his start as a music prodigy, he came to be regarded as a respected figure in the history of film music. He won nine Academy Awards and was nominated 45 times, contributing to the Newmans being the most nominated ...

Composer of many great film scores, Newman also composed the 20th Century Pictures logo theme, retained when the company merged with Fox films and became 20th Century-Fox. It is still in use today.

25. David Arnold

Soundtrack | Casino Royale

David Arnold was born on January 23, 1962 in Luton, England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for Casino Royale (2006), Independence Day (1996) and Godzilla (1998). He has been married to Ellie Pole since June 8, 1996. They have three children.

Followed John Barry in composing music for later James Bond films.

26. David Raksin

Soundtrack | Captain America: The First Avenger

David Raksin's father Isidore, who both conducted and owned a music store, taught his son to play piano as well as woodwind instruments at an early age. He eventually studied music with Arnold Schönberg, but became by-and-large a self-taught multi-instrumentalist (organ and percussion), as well as ...

Prolific film composer, who can forget his score for "Laura" 1944

27. Nino Rota

Composer | The Godfather

Born in Milan in 1911 into a family of musicians, Nino Rota was first a student of Orefice and Pizzetti. Then, still a child, he moved to Rome where he completed his studies at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in 1929 with Alfredo Casella. In the meantime, he had become an 'enfant prodige', famous...

Terrific score for "The Godfather" 1972.

28. Michael Kamen

Soundtrack | Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Michael Kamen was born on April 15, 1948 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Don Juan DeMarco (1994) and X-Men (2000). He was married to Sandra Keenan. He died on November 18, 2003 in London, England, UK.

Excellent score for "Open Range" 2003.

29. Dominic Frontiere

Music_department | Color of Night

Dominic Carmen Frontiere, 86, Emmy and Golden Globe winning film and television composer, former head of music at Paramount Pictures, passed away in Tesuque, New Mexico on 21 December 2017. He is survived by his wife Robin and their children Emily, Joseph, Nicholas and Sofia, as well as daughter ...

30. Ernest Gold

Music_department | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Ernest Gold was born on July 13, 1921 in Vienna, Austria. He was a composer, known for It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), Exodus (1960) and On the Beach (1959). He was married to Jeanette (Jan) Keller, Marni Nixon and Ruth Andree Golbin. He died on March 17, 1999 in Santa Monica, California, USA.

Magnificent score for "Exodus" 1960.

31. Victor Young

Composer | Around the World in Eighty Days

Violinist and conductor Victor Young was a prolific composer and arranger, who worked on more than 300 film scores over a period of twenty years. He came from an impoverished, but musical background and was trained on the violin at the Warsaw Imperial Conservatory, later studying piano in Paris ...

Prolific film score composer, "Around The World In 80 Days" 1956 and "The Quiet Man" 1952 Stood out.

32. James Horner

Music_department | Titanic

James Horner began studying piano at the age of five, and trained at the Royal College of Music in London, England, before moving to California in the 1970s. After receiving a bachelor's degree in music at USC, he would go on to earn his master's degree at UCLA and teach music theory there. He ...

A sad loss to the film world when he died in a plane crash, his score for "Titanic" 1997 was a massive hit.

33. Ennio Morricone

Composer | The Hateful Eight

A classmate of director Sergio Leone with whom he would form one of the great director/composer partnerships (right up there with Eisenstein & Prokofiev, Hitchcock & Herrmann, Fellini & Rota), Ennio Morricone studied at Rome's Santa Cecilia Conservatory, where he specialized in trumpet. His first ...

Many, Many wonderful scores, but my particular favourite was "Cinema Paradiso" 1988.

34. Danny Elfman

Music_department | The Nightmare Before Christmas

As Danny Elfman was growing up in the Los Angeles area, he was largely unaware of his talent for composing. It wasn't until the early 1970s that Danny and his older brother Richard Elfman started a musical troupe while in Paris; the group "Mystic Knights of Oingo-Boingo" was created for Richard's ...

Known for "Batman" 1989 and "Batman Returns" 1992 amongst others.

35. Thomas Newman

Music_department | Skyfall

Thomas Newman is an American film score composer. He was born in Los Angeles. His father was notable film score composer Alfred Newman (1900-1970). The Newman family is of Russian-Jewish descent, and includes several other well-known musicians. Thomas' mother Martha Louis Montgomery (1920-2005) ...

Son of composer, Alfred Newman. Great compositions for "The Horse Whisperer" 1998 and "Bridge Of Spies" 2015.

36. Howard Shore

Music_department | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Howard Shore is a Canadian composer, born in Toronto. He was born in a Jewish family. He started studying music when 8-years-old, and played as a member of bands by the time he was 13-years-old. He was interested in a professional career in music as a teenager. He studied music at the Berklee ...

Brilliant scores for "The Lord Of The Rings" trilogy 2001-2003.

37. Alan Silvestri

Composer | The Polar Express

In his ongoing, decades-long career as a composer, Alan Silvestri has blazed an innovative trail with his exciting and melodic scores, winning the applause of Hollywood and movie audiences the world over. With a credit list of over 100 films Silvestri has composed some of the most recognizable and ...

A stand out score with "Forrest Gump" 1994.

38. Hans Zimmer

Composer | Gladiator

German-born composer Hans Zimmer is recognized as one of Hollywood's most innovative musical talents. He featured in the music video for The Buggles' single "Video Killed the Radio Star", which became a worldwide hit and helped usher in a new era of global entertainment as the first music video to ...

His score for "The Lion King" 1994 brought him world wide fame.

39. Alexandre Desplat

Composer | The King's Speech

Composer and conductor Alexandre Desplat, Oscar winner and seven-time Academy Award nominated, for his prolific filmography and his collaborations with Stephen Frears, Terrence Malick, Ang Lee, Kathryn Bigelow, Jacques Audiard, Wes Anderson, Roman Polanski, George Clooney or Matteo Garrone is one ...

A lovely score for "Philomena" 2013.

40. Michael Giacchino

Composer | Star Trek

Michael Giacchino is an American composer of music for films, television and video games.

Giacchino composed the scores to the television series Lost, Alias and Fringe, the video game series Medal of Honor and Call of Duty and many films such as The Incredibles (2004), Star Trek (2009), Up (2009), ...

Received acclaim for his score of "Up" 2009.

41. Anne Dudley

Composer | The Crying Game

English composer and pop musician. Was a prominent member of the synthpop band The Art of Noise. Now, a critically acclaimed composer. Won an Oscar for Best Original Music or Comedy Score for work in The Full Monty (1997). Since has composed music for more than forty films, including: The Crying ...

Won an Oscar for her score of "The Full Monty"1997 and received acclaim for TV's "Poldark" 2015-2018.

42. Mischa Spoliansky

Composer | Sanders of the River

Mischa Spoliansky, the distinguished composer who was born on December 28, 1898 in Bialystok, Russia, was forced forced to flee his native Russia after the Revolution of 1905 and then his adopted Germaany after the Hitler's rise to power. His family emigrated to Germany in 1905. The product of a ...

Composed the score for Preminger's "Saint Joan" 1957.

43. Cyril J. Mockridge

Music_department | Guys and Dolls

Cyril J. Mockridge was born on August 6, 1896 in London, England, UK. He was a composer, known for Guys and Dolls (1955), My Darling Clementine (1946) and Miracle on 34th Street (1947). He was married to Betty J Mockridge. He died on January 18, 1979 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

Composed the music for 233 films including "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" 1962.

44. Louis Levy

Music_department | The 39 Steps

Louis Levy was born on November 20, 1894 in London, England, UK. He was a composer, known for The 39 Steps (1935), The Lady Vanishes (1938) and The Good Companions (1933). He died on August 18, 1957 in Slough, Berkshire, England, UK.

Mainly known for being a Musical Director for many films, but composed the score for "The 39 Steps" 1935.

45. Franz Waxman

Composer | Sunset Blvd.

Franz Waxman (Wachsmann) pursued his dream of a career in music despite his family's misgivings. He worked for several years as a bank teller and paid for piano, harmony and composition lessons with his salary. He later moved to Berlin, where he continued his study and progress as a musician. He ...

Prolific composer who scored "Rebecca" 1940.

46. Benjamin Frankel

Composer | Battle of the Bulge

Composer, conductor, arranger and music director. Trained Cologne, Berlin and London (at the Guildhall school of Music and Drama). From the age of seventeen, earned a living as a jazz fiddler, pianist and arranger in, among others, Carroll Gibbons' Savoy Orpheans and Henry Hall's BBC Dance ...

Reputedly highest paid British composer for film during the 1950's. His final score was for "Battle Of The Bulge" 1965.

47. Hans J. Salter

Soundtrack | Happy Death Day 2 U

Hans J. Salter was born on January 14, 1896 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was a composer, known for Happy Death Day 2U (2019), Hubie Halloween (2020) and Detroit Rock City (1999). He was married to Gutzman. He died on July 23, 1994 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Composed the score for "Bend Of The River" 1952.

48. Francis Chagrin

Composer | The Silent Battle

Francis Chagrin was born on November 15, 1905 in Bucharest, Romania. He was a composer, known for Continental Express (1939), Last Holiday (1950) and The House in the Woods (1957). He died on November 10, 1972 in Hampstead, London, England, UK.

Composed the score for "The Colditz Story" 1955.

49. Georges Auric

Composer | Le salaire de la peur

At the least George Auric was a fine musician, having been a child prodigy, but he was much more in the musical world. He studied under Vincent D'Indy (a devotee of Cesar Franck and the German school of symphonic composition) and attended the Paris Conservatory (1920). By the time he was 20 he had ...

Composer of the score for "Moulin Rouge" 1952.

50. Bronislau Kaper

Composer | Mutiny on the Bounty

Born: February 5, 1902 in Warsaw, Poland Died: April 25, 1983 in Los Angeles, California, USA Kaper displayed musical talent as early as the age of seven when his family acquired a piano. His inclination to music led him to study both piano and composition, while also taking courses in law to ...

Composed the score for "Lili" 1953.

51. Lionel Newman

Music_department | Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Lionel Newman was the youngest of a triumvirate of accomplished virtuosos, composers and conductors, who dominated the music department at 20th Century Fox for more than four decades. Already a highly regarded pianist by the age of 15, Lionel went on the national vaudeville circuit as accompanist ...

Composed the Score for "Compulsion" 1959. Uncle of composer/songwriter Randy Newman, composer Thomas Newman, composer David Newman, and director Tim Newman.

52. Ray Heindorf

Music_department | The Music Man

Raymond John Heindorf was born August 25, 1908. in Haverstraw, New York. He grew up in Mechanicville, New York, where he moved to when he was about 10 years old. In 1926 he graduated from Mechanicville High School. He was interested in cars and machinery; he loved to play pool with his father, the ...

Oscar winner for the score of "The Music Man" 1962.

53. Leonard Bernstein

Soundtrack | New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts

Renowned composer ("West Side Story", "Candide", "On The Town"), conductor, arranger, pianist, educator, author, TV/radio host, educated at the Boston Latin School and Harvard University (BA) with Walter Piston. Edward Burlingame Hill and A. Tillman Merritt. He studied piano with Helen Coates, ...

Renowned for his score for "West Side Story" 1961.

54. Hugo Friedhofer

Composer | The Best Years of Our Lives

Hugo Friedhofer -- how many times have you seen that name in the credits of 1930s and '40s movies for "orchestration" or "musical arranger" and thought -- Gee, what a busy guy! He was, and, ironically, much of that work went uncredited. He is not usually mentioned with the great film composers of ...

Wrote the score for "Hondo" 1953

55. André Previn

Music_department | My Fair Lady

German-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor André George Previn (born Andreas Ludwig Priwin, in Berlin) was for eight decades a hugely influential and prolific figure in jazz, as well as classical and film music. Being Jewish, Previn's family was forced to leave Hitler's Germany in ...

Prolific composer & pianist, "Irma la Douce" 1963 was a favourite of mine.

56. Leighton Lucas

Composer | Stage Fright

Leighton Lucas was born on January 5, 1903 in London, England, UK. He was a composer, known for Stage Fright (1950), Ice Cold in Alex (1958) and The Dam Busters (1955). He died on November 1, 1982 in London, England, UK.

Composed the score for "Ice Cold In Alex" 1958.

57. David Buttolph

Music_department | The Three Musketeers

Prolific screen composer, arranger, and conductor, educated at Juillard and the Academie fur Musik in Vienna. He played in night clubs in Vienna and Munich from 1923 to 1926, then was an opera coach in Munich, 1926-1927. In 1927 he conducted for NBC, and then became music director for WGY in ...

Composed the score for "House Of Wax" 1953.

58. George Duning

Composer | From Here to Eternity

George Duning was educated in Cincinnati, Ohio, and during his early 20s played trumpet and piano for the Kay Kyser band, later arranging most of the music for Kyser's popular "Kollege of Musical Knowledge" radio program. It was during the Kyser band's appearance in Carolina Moon (1940) that ...

Composed the score for "The Eddy Duchin Story" 1956.

59. Michel Legrand

Composer | The Thomas Crown Affair

Michel Legrand is a three-time Academy Award-winning French composer, conductor and pianist who composed over 200 film and television scores as well as recorded over a hundred albums of jazz, popular and classical music.

He was born on February 24, 1932, in Becon-les-Bruyeres, in the Paris suburbs, ...

Composed the score for "Summer Of '42" 1971.

60. Barrington Pheloung

Composer | Hilary and Jackie

Aside from Barrington's Film and Television work, his work in theatre is renowned. He wrote scores for several West End plays including Made in Bangkok by Anthony Minghella, After the Fall by Arthur Miller and recently The Graduate by Terry Johnson.

He wrote over 52 commissioned scores for ballet ...

Popular composer of television scores such as "Endeavour" 2012-2019.

61. James Bernard

Composer | Dracula

Bernard was born in India, the son of a British army officer, but was moved to England as a small child for his health. He was educated at Wellington College, where the future actor Christopher Lee was a classmate. Fortuitously, because Lee was to star in scores of horror films for Hammer Studios, ...

Known for his Hammer Horror film scores such as "The Curse Of Frankenstein"1957 and "Dracula" 1958