Leo Shuken

Leo Shuken was an American composer and orchestrator, best known for his western scores. He was co-recipient of the Oscar for best scoring of Stagecoach (1939). In his heyday, Shuken was under contract to Paramount, 1937-1944, at which time he worked on several films of the director Preston Sturges. In collaboration with Jack Hayes, Shuken subsequently became a prolific writer of music for TV westerns, with many episodes of Gunsmoke (1955), Wagon Train (1957) and The Virginian (1962) to his credit. Along with Hayes, he also orchestrated some of the best film music of Elmer Bernstein, including The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), Hawaii (1966) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967). His other output included a "Trumpet Concerto" and the "The Dorsey Concerto", written specifically for the two famous band leaders and performed on trombone by Tommy and on clarinet and saxophone by Jimmy.