Morton Gould

Morton Gould (December 10, 1913 – February 21, 1996) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist.^[1]

Biography

Morton Gould was born in

In 1936, Gould married Shirley Uzin, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1943. In the following year, Gould married Shirley Bank.[3]^[4] This marriage, too, ended in divorce.^[5]

Gould led the orchestra for The Jack Pearl Show, which was broadcast on NBC in the 1930s.^[6]: 170 In the 1940s, Gould appeared on the Cresta Blanca Carnival^[6] radio program, Keep 'Em Rolling,^[6]: 189 and Major Bowes' Shower of Stars,^[6]: 213 as well as The Chrysler Hour on CBS, where he reached an audience of millions. In 1942, he composed music for the short film Ring of Steel, directed by Garson Kanin and produced by the Film Unit of the U.S. Office for Emergency Management. In 1943, he was hired by the William H. Weintraub advertising agency as its musical director, believed to be the first position of its kind in the advertising field.^[7]

Gould had four children. On February 16, 1945, Gould's son Eric was born.^[4] Gould's son David was born on March 2, 1947.^[8] Gould's first daughter, Abby, was born on February 3, 1950,^[8] and, on December 21, 1954, his daughter Deborah was born.^[8]

Gould composed Broadway scores such as Billion Dollar Baby and Arms and the Girl; film music such as Delightfully Dangerous, Cinerama Holiday, Windjammer, and In Search of the Castaways; music for television series such as World War One and the miniseries Holocaust; and ballet scores including Interplay, Fall River Legend, and I'm Old Fashioned.^[1]

Gould's music was commissioned by

For many decades Gould was an active member of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers). He sat on its board from 1959 and served as president from 1986 until 1994.^[2] During his tenure, he lobbied for the intellectual rights of performing artists as the internet was becoming a force that would greatly affect ASCAP's members.

Incorporating new styles into his repertoire as they emerged, Gould incorporated wildly disparate elements, including a

In 1995, Gould was awarded the

Gould died on February 21, 1996, in Orlando, Florida,^[1] where he was the first resident guest composer/conductor at the Disney Institute and was in the middle of a three-day tribute honoring his music. He was 82 years old.^[2]

Work on Broadway

• Interplay (1945), ballet to the choreography of Jerome Robbins - composer
• Billion Dollar Baby (1945),
  orchestrator
• Arms and the Girl (1950), musical - composer and orchestrator
• Jerome Robbins' Broadway (1989), revue - featured songwriter for "Billion Dollar Baby"

Work in film and television

• Delightfully Dangerous (1945), composer and actor
• Casey, Crime Photographer (1951–1952), composer and music^[13]
• Nathan Van Cleave
• Windjammer (1958), composer, orchestra conducted by Jack Shaindlin
• In Search of the Castaways (1962), composer, additional music by Van Cleave
• World War One (CBS - 1964), composer, CBS Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alfredo Antonini.