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Meredith Willson is a Scriptwriter and Sound American born on 18 may 1902 at Iowa (USA)

Meredith Willson

Meredith Willson
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Birth name Robert Meredith Willson
Nationality USA
Birth 18 may 1902 at Iowa (USA)
Death 15 june 1984 (at 82 years) at Santa Monica (USA)

Robert Meredith Willson (May 18, 1902 – June 15, 1984) was an American composer, songwriter, conductor and playwright, best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical The Music Man. He wrote three other Broadway musicals, composed symphonies and popular songs, and his film scores were twice nominated for Academy Awards.

Biography

En 1916, à quatorze ans, Meredith Willson entre au Damrosch Institute of Musical Art de New York, ou il étudie le piano, la flûte avec Georges Barrère, la composition avec Mortimer Wilson et la direction d'orchestre avec Henry Hadley. De 1921 à 1923, il effectue des tournées aux États-Unis, au Canada, à Cuba et au Mexique, au sein de l'orchestre d'harmonie de John Philip Sousa, où il joue de la flûte (dont le piccolo). De 1924 à 1929, il est flûtiste à l'Orchestre philharmonique de New York, sous la direction notamment d'Arturo Toscanini. Dans les années 1930, il commence à travailler pour la radio, comme directeur musical et responsable de diverses émissions radiophoniques à la NBC (Services de la Côte Ouest), et à la KFRC de San Francisco. Dans le même temps, il dirige régulièrement l'Orchestre de Seattle, l'Orchestre symphonique de San Francisco et l'Orchestre philharmonique de Los Angeles. Durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, il est directeur musical des services radiophoniques de l'armée américaine . Ensuite, il reprend ses fonctions à la NBC, où il participe à la création de nouvelles émissions et shows radios.

Comme compositeur, il est l'auteur de quelques musiques de films (dont sa contribution pour Le Dictateur de Charlie Chaplin en 1940), de nombreuses chansons populaires, d'œuvres pour orchestre (pièces de musique légère, deux symphonies, un poème symphonique, entre autres). Mais il est surtout connu pour ses comédies musicales. La première, créée à Broadway en 1957, The Music Man, connaîtra un triomphe, grâce à des chansons entrées immédiatement au répertoire, telles Seventy-Six Trombones ou Till There Was You (cette dernière sera reprise en 1963 par The Beatles dans leur deuxième album, With the Beatles). The Music Man remportera un Tony Award du "meilleur musical" en 1958 et un Grammy Award pour son enregistrement discographique, et sera rapidement adaptée au cinéma, tout comme la deuxième comédie musicale de Willson, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, également un succès.

Il compose également la chanson Are You Sure, notamment interprétée par Aretha Franklin.

En outre, Meredith Wilson a écrit deux autobiographies, And there I stood with my Piccolo (publiée en 1948) et But he doesn't know the Territory (publiée en 1959).

Pour ses activités à la radio, une étoile lui est dédiée sur le Walk of Fame d'Hollywood Boulevard.

Best films

The Great Dictator (1940)
(Sound)

Usually with

Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Meredith Willson (6 films)

Display filmography as list

Scriptwriter

The Music Man, 2h30
Directed by Jeff Bleckner
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Musical, Romance
Themes Films about music and musicians, Musical films, Films based on plays, Films based on musicals
Actors Matthew Broderick, Kristin Chenoweth, Debra Monk, Cameron Monaghan, Clyde Alves, David Aaron Baker
Rating60% 3.0469553.0469553.0469553.0469553.046955
Professor Harold Hill (Matthew Broderick), a confidence artist who makes a living by selling instruments and uniforms to aspiring musicians he fails to teach once they are delivered, sets his sights on the naive citizens of River City, Iowa as his latest targets. Hill is sitting on a train in the first scene, playing cards while listening to the passengers on the train talk about him and his cons (Rock Island). Before getting off at River City, an anvil salesman named Charlie realizes who Hill is, but fails to catch him when he gets off the train. Charlie yells out the window of the train "I won't forget your face, Hill!" before the train travels on, while Hill is stepping on to the fresh soil of Iowa.

Sound

The Music Man, 2h30
Directed by Jeff Bleckner
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Musical, Romance
Themes Films about music and musicians, Musical films, Films based on plays, Films based on musicals
Actors Matthew Broderick, Kristin Chenoweth, Debra Monk, Cameron Monaghan, Clyde Alves, David Aaron Baker
Rating60% 3.0469553.0469553.0469553.0469553.046955
Professor Harold Hill (Matthew Broderick), a confidence artist who makes a living by selling instruments and uniforms to aspiring musicians he fails to teach once they are delivered, sets his sights on the naive citizens of River City, Iowa as his latest targets. Hill is sitting on a train in the first scene, playing cards while listening to the passengers on the train talk about him and his cons (Rock Island). Before getting off at River City, an anvil salesman named Charlie realizes who Hill is, but fails to catch him when he gets off the train. Charlie yells out the window of the train "I won't forget your face, Hill!" before the train travels on, while Hill is stepping on to the fresh soil of Iowa.
The Unsinkable Molly Brown, 2h8
Directed by Charles Walters
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Biography, Comedy, Fantasy, Musical, Romance
Themes Seafaring films, Films about music and musicians, Transport films, RMS Titanic in fiction, Musical films, Films based on plays, Films based on musicals, Disaster films, Films about seafaring accidents or incidents
Actors Debbie Reynolds, Harve Presnell, Ed Begley, Hermione Baddeley, Martita Hunt, Fred Essler
Rating65% 3.2952053.2952053.2952053.2952053.295205
Rescued from the Colorado River as an infant and raised by Shamus Tobin, tomboy Molly Brown is determined to find a wealthy man to marry. She journeys to Leadville, Colorado and is hired as a saloon singer by Christmas Morgan. After miner Johnny Brown renovates his cabin, the two wed, and he sells his claim in a silver mine for $300,000. Soon after the money Molly hid in the stove accidentally is burned, Johnny discovers the richest gold vein in state history.
The Music Man, 2h31
Directed by Morton DaCosta
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Musical theatre, Romantic comedy, Musical, Romance
Themes Films about music and musicians, Musical films, Films based on plays, Films based on musicals
Actors Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, Hermione Gingold, Paul Ford, Pert Kelton
Rating76% 3.8469153.8469153.8469153.8469153.846915
In July 1912, a traveling salesman, "Professor" Harold Hill (Robert Preston), arrives in the fictional location of River City, Iowa, intrigued by the challenge of swindling the famously stubborn natives of Iowa ("Iowa Stubborn"). Masquerading as a traveling band instructor, Professor Hill plans to con the citizens of River City into paying him to create a boys' marching band, including instruments, uniforms, and music instruction. Once he has collected the money and the instruments and uniforms have arrived, he will hop the next train out of town, leaving them without their money or a band.
The Little Foxes, 1h55
Directed by William Wyler
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Historical, Romance
Themes Théâtre, Films based on plays
Actors Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright, Charles Dingle, Richard Carlson, Carl Benton Reid
Rating78% 3.9462553.9462553.9462553.9462553.946255
The focus is on Southern aristocrat Regina Hubbard Giddens (Bette Davis), who struggles for wealth and freedom within the confines of an early 20th-century society where a father considered only sons as legal heirs. As a result, her avaricious brothers, Benjamin (Charles Dingle) and Oscar (Carl Benton Reid), are independently wealthy, while she must rely for financial support upon her sickly husband Horace (Herbert Marshall), who has been away undergoing treatment for a severe heart condition.
The Great Dictator, 2h4
Directed by Charlie Chaplin
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Comedy, Comedy-drama
Themes Military humor in film, Medical-themed films, Monde imaginaire, Hitler, Films about psychiatry, Films about disabilities, Political films
Actors Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner, Henry Daniell, Billy Gilbert
Rating83% 4.199244.199244.199244.199244.19924
The action starts in 1918, with the collapse of the Tomainian (German) army. A Jewish barber saves the life of a wounded pilot, Schultz, but loses his own memory through concussion.
The Lost Zeppelin
Directed by Edward Sloman
Genres Adventure
Actors Conway Tearle, Virginia Valli, Ricardo Cortez, Kathryn McGuire, Winter Hall, Richard Cramer
Rating54% 2.723662.723662.723662.723662.72366
Le film est basé sur l'histoire de l'accident du dirigeable Italia qui s'écrase à proximité du Pôle nord en mai 1928.