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Leo F. Forbstein

1892–1948 · 34 titles in the catalogue

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leo Frank Forbstein (October 16, 1892 – March 16, 1948) was an American film musical director and orchestra conductor who worked on more than 550 projects during a twenty-year period.

Forbstein was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He was attracted to music as a child, learning the violin at the age of four. As a conductor at the Royal Theater in St. Joseph, he synchronized the orchestra with the action in silent films; he then became principal conductor at the Newman Theatre in Kansas City, where the organist was future Warner Bros. colleague Carl W. Stalling. In the mid-1920s, Forbstein relocated to Hollywood to head the symphony orchestra at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre.

He signed with Warner Bros. as one of the directors of its Vitaphone Orchestra, alongside Erno Rapee (then Warners' general music director), Louis Silvers, and David Mendoza; Forbstein's first screen credit was The Squall in 1929. In 1931, Warners dismissed Rapee and Mendoza in a consolidation and economy move and Forbstein became the company's general music director.

In 1936, Forbstein and composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold were write-in candidates for the Oscar for Best Music, Score for their work on Captain Blood. The following year, he was nominated officially for The Charge of the Light Brigade and Anthony Adverse, winning for the latter. He was nominated again for The Life of Emile Zola in 1938.

Forbstein was married to the former Bess Gallas from October 16, 1914 until his death from a heart attack in Los Angeles, California. They had one daughter, Harriett (born 1915), who married assistant director Melvin Dellar. Leo Forbstein was entombed in the Corridor of Immortality at Home of Peace Cemetery.

Their work

34
  1. Casablanca1943Music Director
  2. Rope1948Music Director
  3. The Maltese Falcon1941Music Director
  4. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre1948Music Director
  5. The Big Sleep1946Music Director
  6. Arsenic and Old Lace1944Original Music Composer
  7. The Adventures of Robin Hood1938Music Director
  8. To Have and Have Not1945Music Director
  9. Mildred Pierce1945Music Director
  10. Angels with Dirty Faces1938Music Director
  11. Dark Passage1947Music Director
  12. Little Caesar1931Conductor
  13. Meet John Doe1941Music Director
  14. The Letter1940Music Director
  15. Sergeant York1941Music Director
  16. Now, Voyager1942Music Director
  17. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang1932Original Music Composer
  18. Jezebel1938Music Director
  19. The Petrified Forest1936Music Director
  20. 42nd Street1933Conductor
  21. Gold Diggers of 19331933Conductor
  22. Christmas in Connecticut1945Music Director
  23. Dark Victory1939Music Director
  24. The Life of Emile Zola1937Music Director
  25. Baby Face1933Conductor
  26. Mystery of the Wax Museum1933Conductor
  27. They Drive by Night1940Music Director
  28. Dodge City1939Music Director
  29. Footlight Parade1933Conductor
  30. Pursued1947Music Director
  31. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex1939Music Director
  32. The Man Who Came to Dinner1941Music Director
  33. 'G' Men1935Music Director
  34. Night Nurse1931Conductor