Ray Heindorf

Composer, conductor, and orchestrator Ray Heindorf worked prolifically in Hollywood from the start of the sound era of the movies in the late '20s to the end of the studio system in the late '50s. As the head of the music department at Warner Bros. Pictures for more than a decade, he helped provide music for hundreds of motion pictures, whether he composed the scores himself or oversaw the work of others. His creative endeavors brought him 18 Academy Award nominations and three Oscars. Although his primary responsibility was to the movies, and he was essentially a behind-the-scenes artist, nevertheless his work spilled over into the recording field, as he wrote popular songs that earned recordings, conducted the orchestras for soundtrack albums, and even released a handful of discs under his own name, some of these activities resulting in Top Ten hits. Ray John Heindorf was born on August 25, 1908, in the Hudson River town of Haverstraw, NY. He took an early interest in both music and movies, and by the age of 14 was playing the piano to accompany the showing of silent films at a local theater. He attended the Troy Conservatory of Music. In October 1927, Warner Bros. launched the sound era by releasing the first feature film with sound, The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson. Soon, all the studios were turning out talkies, and composers were much needed. Heindorf headed west and was first employed by MGM, where he orchestrated Arthur Lange's score to The Hollywood Revue, released in August 1929, and appeared onscreen in the short subject The Song Writers' Revue, released in January 1930. That, however, turned out to be his only work in front of the camera and his last effort at MGM. Soon, he was working in the music department at Warner Bros., where he wrote the main title...