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Walter Scharf is a Musical, Sound and Additional Music American born on 1 august 1910 at New York City (USA)

Walter Scharf

Walter Scharf
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Nationality USA
Birth 1 august 1910 at New York City (USA)
Death 24 february 2003 (at 92 years) at Brentwood (USA)

Walter Scharf, né le 1er août 1910 à New York (État de New York), mort le 24 février 2003 à Los Angeles — Quartier de Brentwood (Californie), est un compositeur, arrangeur, pianiste et chef d'orchestre américain, connu surtout dans le domaine de la musique de film.

Biography

Après des débuts dans les années 1920 à Broadway (New York), comme orchestrateur et accompagnateur (au piano) de chanteurs, Walter Scharf connaît sa première expérience au cinéma en composant la musique d'un court métrage musical sorti en 1933, Poppin' the Cork de Jack White.

À Hollywood, il travaille régulièrement à partir de 1936 et jusqu'en 1982, comme compositeur, arrangeur (ou orchestrateur) et directeur musical, notamment dans les genres du western (ex. : La Ruée sanglante d'Albert S. Rogell en 1943, comme compositeur) et du film musical (ex. : Hans Christian Andersen et la Danseuse de Charles Vidor en 1952, comme arrangeur). Fait particulier, il contribue à plusieurs films avec Jerry Lewis, tel Le Dingue du Palace en 1960, réalisé par l'acteur. On lui doit aussi la musique de « songs » à succès : mentionnons la chanson-titre, souvent reprise, du film musical Ben (1972) de Phil Karlson, qui lui vaut en 1973 une nomination à l'Oscar de la meilleure chanson originale, partagée avec son parolier Don Black (cette chanson permet au tandem de gagner un Golden Globe dans la même catégorie, toujours en 1973). Par ailleurs, durant sa carrière, il obtient (entre autres) dix nominations à l'Oscar de la meilleure musique de film, mais n'en gagne pas.

Parmi les films notables de Walter Scharf, citons Alerte aux marines d'Edward Ludwig (1944, comme compositeur), Milliardaire pour un jour de Frank Capra (1961, comme compositeur), Funny Girl de William Wyler (1968, comme arrangeur), ou encore Charlie et la Chocolaterie de Mel Stuart (version de 1971, comme arrangeur).

Il officie également à la télévision, entre 1958 et 1983, pour des séries (ex. : Des agents très spéciaux — dix épisodes en 1964-1965 — et Mission impossible — cinq épisodes en 1966-1967 —, comme compositeur) et téléfilms. Sa contribution à Des agents très spéciaux lui vaut d'ailleurs en 1966 une nomination aux Grammy Awards.

Enfin, Walter Scharf est l'auteur de quelques partitions « classiques » destinées à l'orchestre, telle The Palestine Suite de 1941, créée à la radio par Werner Janssen la même année, reprise à l'Hollywood Bowl par Leopold Stokowski en 1945.

Best films

Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
(Orchestrator)
The Nutty Professor (1963)
(Original Music Composer)

Usually with

Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
(15 films)
Edith Head
Edith Head
(23 films)
Hal Pereira
Hal Pereira
(22 films)
Russel Gausman
Russel Gausman
(17 films)
Bud Westmore
Bud Westmore
(16 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Walter Scharf (93 films)

Display filmography as list

Scriptwriter

Flying Tigers, 1h42
Directed by David Miller
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Action, Historical
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Aviation films, Political films
Actors John Wayne, John Carroll, Anna Lee, Gordon Jones, Paul Kelly, Mae Clarke
Roles Musical
Rating66% 3.3465253.3465253.3465253.3465253.346525
Jim Gordon (John Wayne in his first war film) leads the Flying Tigers, a squadron of freelance American pilots who fly Curtiss P-40 fighters against Japanese aircraft in the skies over China. The pilots are a mixed bunch, motivated by money (they receive a bounty for each aircraft shot down), or just the thrill of aerial combat.

Sound

This Is Elvis, 2h24
Directed by Andrew Solt
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Documentary, Musical
Themes Films about music and musicians, Films about television, Documentary films about music and musicians, Documentaire sur une personnalité, Musical films
Actors Elvis Presley, Johnny Harra, Linda Diane Thompson, Priscilla Presley, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra
Rating75% 3.788083.788083.788083.788083.78808
Ce docu-film relate la vie du King, alternant images d'archives et scènes rejouées par des acteurs, le tout illuminé par ses meilleures chansons. Un voyage inoubliable dans les coulisses d'un phénomène musical incomparable et intemporel…
The Long Days of Summer, 1h40
Directed by Dan Curtis
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Actors Dean Jones, Joan Hackett, Ronnie Scribner, Louanne Sirota, Donald Moffat, Andrew Duggan
Roles Music
Rating61% 3.0892353.0892353.0892353.0892353.089235
It's the summer of 1938 in Bridgeport, Connecticut and Jewish 13-year-old, Daniel Cooper (now portrayed by Ronnie Scribner) finds himself tangling with the bigoted playground bully, Freddy Landauer (David Baron). As the talk of Bridgeport centers around the pending rematch between boxing heavyweight champ Joe Louis and his German challenger, Danny is challenged to a boxing match with the Landauer boy, to which he feels he has no choice but to accept. Paralleling his plight, Danny's father (Dean Jones) also begins to experience antisemitism when he takes in a Jewish boarder from Germany (Donald Moffat) who has come to the United States to warn of the increasing menace overseas in the form of Adolf Hitler. As Danny and his family are faced with their own pressures from within their small-town community, they must each make difficult decisions about standing up for what is right in the face of discrimination and intimidation.
A Real American Hero, 1h34
Directed by Lou Antonio
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Biography, Action, Crime
Actors Brian Dennehy, Forrest Tucker, Ken Howard, Sheree North, Brian Kerwin
Roles Original Music Composer
Rating56% 2.807172.807172.807172.807172.80717
The movie, set in 1967, is about the real-life sheriff Buford Pusser, who goes after a criminal who has killed young people with his illegal moonshine. Brian Dennehy plays Pusser. The rest of the cast include Ken Howard, Sheree North, Forrest Tucker, and Brian Kerwin.
When Every Day Was the Fourth of July, 1h40
Directed by Dan Curtis
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Actors Dean Jones, Andrew Duggan, Louise Sorel, Chris Petersen, Katy Kurtzman, Harris Yulin
Roles Music
Rating72% 3.6042853.6042853.6042853.6042853.604285
It's the summer of 1937 in Bridgeport, Connecticut and 12-year-old Daniel Cooper (Chris Petersen) along with his 10-year-old sister Sarah (Katy Kurtzman) are looking forward to summer vacation, most particularly, the annual 4th of July festivities. Sarah soon befriends the town's gentle misfit, Albert Cavanaugh, known by the town's children as "Snowman" (Geoffrey Lewis), a highly decorated and now brain-damaged World War I veteran, after she defends him from the town's resident bully, "Red" Doyle (Eric Shea). When Snowman finds himself accused of a terrible murder, Sarah, believing him to be innocent, convinces her successful attorney father, Ed Cooper (Dean Jones) to defend him. Amid courtroom allegations of communism and insinuations of a potentially inappropriate relationship with Sarah, Ed Cooper and the town's children must try to prove Snowman's innocence, before he can be sentenced to jail for the murder.
Final Chapter---Walking Tall, 1h52
Directed by Jack Starrett
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime
Actors Bo Svenson, Lurene Tuttle, Forrest Tucker, Leif Garrett, Dawn Lyn, Logan Ramsey
Roles Original Music Composer
Rating57% 2.8506752.8506752.8506752.8506752.850675
One year has passed since the ambush that killed his wife, and Buford still has difficulty dealing with it. At his wife's grave, he breaks down, telling her he regrets ignoring her request to not become sheriff.
Walking Tall Part II, 1h49
Directed by Earl Bellamy
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Action, Adventure, Crime
Actors Bo Svenson, Luke Askew, John Davis Chandler, Robert DoQui, Leif Garrett, Bruce Glover
Roles Original Music Composer
Rating59% 2.9972352.9972352.9972352.9972352.997235
Sheriff Buford Pusser is recovering from reconstructive surgery on his face that has been disfigured during an ambush on his life that killed his wife and he is deciding whether he wants to leave office or pursue those that are responsible for her death. Buford is re-elected and his first order of business is to bust up a still operating on the river bank. Buford and his deputies surprise the moonshiners and round them all up, except for Pinky Dobson (Luke Askew) who gets away in a boat. John Witter (Logan Ramsey) is angry when Dobson brings Ray Henry (John Davis Chandler) to a meeting at his mansion. Witter and Dobson talk about what to do about Buford. Witter grumbles about how Buford has cost him a lot of money by shutting down his operations. He puts pressure on Dobson to take Buford out. Dobson promises he will.
Walking Tall, 1h47
Directed by Phil Karlson
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Biography, Action, Crime
Actors Joe Don Baker, Elizabeth Hartman, Lurene Tuttle, Noah Beery, Jr, Leif Garrett, John Brascia
Roles Original Music Composer
Rating68% 3.4466053.4466053.4466053.4466053.446605
Pusser, at his wife Pauline's behest, retires from the professional wrestling ring and moves back to Tennessee to start a logging business with his father, Carl Pusser. With a friend, he visits a gambling and prostitution establishment, the Lucky Spot, and is beaten up after catching them cheating at craps. Pusser is seriously injured with a knife and receives over 200 stitches. He complains to the sheriff but is ignored, and soon becomes aware of the rampant corruption in McNairy County. Later, working at his dad's lumber mill, Pusser makes a club out of a tree branch. Late one night, Pusser waits until after the Lucky Spot is closed, and beats up the same thugs that left him for dead. The next day, Pusser is arrested and represents himself at trial. At one point, he rips off his shirt and shows the jury his scars. He informs them that "If you let them do this to me and get away with it, then you're giving them the eternal right to do the same damn thing to any one of you!" The jury finds Pusser not guilty, and he decides to clean up the county and runs for sheriff. Buford Pusser wins, and becomes famous for being incorruptible, intolerant of crime, and for his array of four-foot hickory clubs which he uses to great effect in dispatching criminals and destroying their clandestine gambling dens and illegal distilleries.
Journey Back to Oz, 1h28
Directed by Don Bluth, Hal Sutherland
Origin USA
Genres Fantasy, Musical, Animation
Themes Films about magic and magicians, Monde imaginaire, Le pays d'Oz, Children's films
Actors Milton Berle, Herschel Bernardi, Paul Ford, Don Messick, Margaret Hamilton, Paul Lynde
Rating57% 2.85032.85032.85032.85032.8503
After a tornado in Kansas causes a loose gate to knock Dorothy unconscious, she re-appears in the Land of Oz with Toto, and encounters a talking Signpost (voiced by Jack E. Leonard), whose three signs point in different directions, all marked "Emerald City". They later meet Pumpkinhead (voiced by Paul Lynde), the unwilling servant of antagonist Mombi. Toto chases a cat to a small cottage where Dorothy is captured by Mombi's pet crow (voiced by Mel Blanc) and Mombi (voiced by Ethel Merman) herself. Pumpkinhead sneaks into the house in Mombi's absence, and discovers her creation of green elephants, to use as her army to conquer the Emerald City. Pumpkinhead frees Dorothy, and they flee. After finding Dorothy gone, Mombi threatens that their warning the Scarecrow will not help when her green elephants "come crashing through the gate".
Ben
Ben (1972)
, 1h34
Directed by Phil Karlson
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Horror
Themes Films about animals, Natural horror films
Actors Lee Montgomery, Joseph Campanella, Arthur O'Connell, Meredith Baxter, Rosemary Murphy, Kaz Garas
Roles Original Music Composer
Rating53% 2.659222.659222.659222.659222.65922
A lonely boy named Danny Garrison befriends Ben, the rat leader of the swarm of rats trained by Willard Stiles. Ben becomes the boy's best friend, protecting him from bullying and keeping his spirits up in the face of a heart condition.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, 1h40
Directed by Mel Stuart
Origin USA
Genres Fantastic, Comedy, Fantasy, Musical
Themes Cooking films, Films about children, Films about music and musicians, Musical films, Children's films
Actors Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum, Roy Kinnear, Julie Dawn Cole, Denise Nickerson
Roles Original Music Composer
Rating77% 3.897723.897723.897723.897723.89772
In an unnamed European town, children go to a candy shop after school. Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), whose family is poor, can only stare through the window as the shop owner sings "Candy Man". The newsagent for whom Charlie works after school gives him his weekly pay, which Charlie uses to buy a loaf of bread. On his way home, he passes Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. A mysterious tinker (Peter Capell) recites the first lines of William Allingham's poem "The Fairies", and tells Charlie, "Nobody ever goes in, and nobody ever comes out." Charlie rushes home to his widowed mother (Diana Sowle) and his four bedridden grandparents. After he tells Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson) about the tinker, Joe tells him that Wonka locked the factory because his arch-rival, Mr. Slugworth, and other candy makers sent in spies disguised as employees to steal Wonka's recipes. Wonka disappeared, but three years later began selling more candy; the origin of Wonka's labour force is a mystery.
The Cheyenne Social Club, 1h43
Directed by Gene Kelly
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Action, Western
Themes Films about sexuality, Erotic films, Films about prostitution
Actors James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Shirley Jones, Sue Ane Langdon, Robert Middleton, Elaine Devry
Roles Original Music Composer
Rating67% 3.396473.396473.396473.396473.39647
In 1867, John O'Hanlan (Stewart) and Harley Sullivan (Fonda) are aging cowboys working on open cattle ranges in Texas. O'Hanlan gets a letter from an attorney in Cheyenne, Wyoming, that his disreputable and now deceased brother, DJ, left him something called The Cheyenne Social Club in his will.
Pendulum
Pendulum (1969)
, 1h42
Directed by George Schaefer
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Crime
Actors George Peppard, Jean Seberg, Richard Kiley, Charles McGraw, Madeleine Sherwood, Frank Marth
Roles Original Music Composer
Rating61% 3.0977453.0977453.0977453.0977453.097745
À Washington DC, le capitaine de police Frank Matthews a arrêté le meurtrier et violeur Paul Sanderson. Lors de son procès, son avocat W. W. King plaide le vice de forme, alléguant que son client n'a pas été informé de ses droits constitutionnels et la Cour suprême relaxe Sanderson au grand dam de Frank. Parallèlement, ce dernier soupçonne sa femme Adèle d'avoir une liaison avec un homme marié. Pendant qu'il s'est absenté pour se rendre à un colloque à Baltimore, sa femme en profite pour retrouver son amant Brooks Elliot, un ex-petit ami devenu sénateur. Le couple est abattu alors qu'il se trouvait au lit. Frank est le premier suspecté et, malgré son recours à un avocat, le même avocat qui avait défendu Sanderson, il est appréhendé. Pour lui, la culpabilité de Sanderson ne fait aucun doute. Il réussit à s'échapper et va retrouver Sanderson dans sa résidence en Pennsylvanie. Lors de leur affrontement, il réussit à obtenir ses aveux et au moment où Sanderson s'apprête à le tuer, Madame Sanderson mère l'en empêche. Innocenté et de retour à Washington, Frank doute de ses lendemains dans la police.