Alex North

Alex North (December 4, 1910 - September 8, 1991) was an American composer responsible for the first jazz based film score (A Streetcar Named Desire) and the first truly modernist film score (Viva Zapata!).

Born in Chester, Pennsylvania, Alex North was an original composer probably even by the classical music standards of the day.However, he managed to integrate his modernism into typical film music leitmotif structure, rich with themes. One of these became the famous song, "Unchained Melody". Nominated for an Oscar 15 times, Alex North is the only film composer to win the lifetime achievement Oscar.

His most popular film scores of those many not already mentioned are Spartacus, Cleopatra, Dragonslayer, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Devil's Brigade, and the rejected score for Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. His classical works include a Rhapsody for Piano, Trumpet obbligato and Orchestra.

Work on Broadway

Mother (1935) - play with music - co-composer
Life and Death of an American (1939) - play - co-composer
Tis of Thee (1940) - revue - co-composer
Of V We Sing (1942) - revue - featured composer
Death of a Salesman (1949) - music for the play - composer
The Innocents (1950) - play - incidental music composer
A Streetcar Named Desire (1952) - ballet based on the play - composer
The Misfits (1961) - film score - composer
Street Corner Symphony (1997) - revue - featured songwriter for "Unchained Melody"

External links

*Alex North at the Internet Broadway Database
*Alex North website maintained by his family.