Solid!

Born

• August 9, 1900/1
• Chicago, IL

Died

• November 11, 1956
• Palm Springs, CA

Victor Young

• BIOGRAPHY
• FILMOGRAPHY

One of the great film composers of all-time, Victor Young scored more than 200 motion pictures during his twenty-one years in Hollywood. His credits include such famous titles as The Greatest Show on Earth, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Quiet Man, and Golden Earrings. But perhaps his greatest success was the score for Around the World in Eighty Days, which won him an Oscar, albeit posthumously.

Victor Young was born in Chicago. His father was a tenor with the Chicago Opera. When his mother died, Young and his sister were sent to live with their grandparents in Warsaw, Poland. Young had already exhibited a talent for the violin, and his grandfather sent him to the Warsaw Conservatory of Music. While still a teenager, Young made his debut with the Warsaw Philharmonic and toured both in Europe and the United States.

After facing many hardships during World War I Young decided to return to America, where he soon discovered his talent for composing and arranging popular music. During the late 1920s he worked for Ted Fio Rito and Ben Pollack and in the early 1930s with Isham Jones. During the mid-1930s he moved to Los Angeles and began to concentrate on radio and film work. In 1935 Young was hired by Paramount Pictures, where over the next two decades he produced some of the most memorable film music of all time. He also served as musical director for both Brunswick and Decca records.

Young was a hard worker and his lifestyle took its toll. In 1956 he suffered a stroke and passed away.