Appointed staff conductor of the CBS Symphony in 1935; premiered works by Ralph Vaughn Williams and Charles Ives as chief conductor (1940-51)
Earned an Oscar nomination for his first movie orchestration, the 1941 Orson Welles classic Citizen Kane; also collaborated with Welles on the 1938 Mercury Players radio drama The War of the Worlds
Won an Oscar for his second movie orchestration, The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)
Composed the scores for eight Alfred Hitchcock films (but earned no Oscar nominations for them); persuaded Hitchcock to use music in the Psycho shower scene
Died the night after completing sound editing for Taxi Driver (1976)
Is pictured on a 33-cent U
S
postage stamp (one of six Hollywood composers honored by the Postal Service in 1999)
Two of his scores (Psycho and Vertigo) are on the American Film Institute's 2005 Top 25 list
Awards
1977BAFTA Film Awards-The Anthony Asquith Award:winner
1976Oscar-Best Achievement in Music (Original Score):nominated
1976Los Angeles Film Critics Association-Best Music Score:winner
1955Emmy-Best Original Music Composed for TV:nominated
1952Golden Globe-Best Original Score - Motion Picture:nominated
1946Oscar-Best Achievement in Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture):nominated
1941Oscar-Best Achievement in Music (Music Score of a Dramatic Picture):winner