Walter Scharf

Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner and ten-time Oscar-nominee Walter Scharf was born and raised in New York City, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants. He started playing music at an early age, helping his uncle play the piano in theaters for silent films. His mother Bessie Zwerling was a well-known comedian in New York's Yiddish theater. He got his first real Broadway gig at the age of 17, orchestrating George Gershwin's "Girl Crazy." He also played in several college shows written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Later he worked as a session musician in the early years of recording, along with Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey. He took his earnings and studied at New York University, even spending a year and a half studying in Berlin, witnessing the rise of the Nazis in 1932. Back in New York he became the accompanist for the legendary chanteuse Helen Morgan, who introduced him to the world of film with Manhattan Melodrama (1934). Her sometime substitute, Alice Faye, coaxed him to join Rudy Vallee's orchestra, playing at the Embassy Club, and eventually going to Hollywood with them to make Sweet Music (1935) at Warner Brothers. Throughout the 1930s he wrote music for over a dozen films, mostly without receiving screen credit. His first Oscar nomination came for the score of Mercy Island (1941), and his film music career continued through six decades. He worked extensively with stars such as Shirley Temple, Al Jolson, Irving Berlin, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand' and Michael Jackson. Other Oscar nominations came for his work on Hans Christian Andersen (1952), Funny Girl (1968), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Ben (1972), but he never won. His Emmy award came for his work on a National Geographic television special, and his Golden Globe award was won for his work on "Ben". He shared a credit for co-writing the "Ben" title song with Don Black.