Leith Stevens
Film and television composer Leith Stevens remains best known for his score to the Marlon Brando classic The Wild One. Born in Mount Moriah, Missouri on September 13, 1909, Stevens was a child prodigy who by the age of 11 was playing professionally behind Kansas City-area vocalists, making his debut as conductor by 16. Awarded a Julliard Foundation Fellowship in 1927, he relocated three years later to serve as the pianist with the Chicago Opera Company before returning to New York City to work as an arranger with CBS Radio. Stevens migrated to Hollywood in 1939 to compose and conduct the score for the Edward G. Robinson radio series Big Town, and three years later he completed his first film score for the RKO production Syncopation. During World War II he directed radio programming for the U.S. Office of War Information; upon returning to Hollywood he helped form the Composers and Lyricists Guild of America, serving as the organization's president for eight years. Although his film commissions included uncredited contributions to big-budget productions like the 1946 perennial It's a Wonderful Life and 1953's The War of the Worlds, Stevens did his finest work in low-budget B-pictures, infusing little-seen film noirs like Crashout and Private Hell 36 with percussive, bebop-influenced scores that preceded the jazz innovations of better-known Hollywood composers like Henry Mancini and Elmer Bernstein by some months -- likewise, his jazz score for 1953's The Wild One (performed by Shorty Rogers) combined with Brando's landmark performance, earned him the enmity of conservative watchdogs. In 1956 Stevens earned his first Academy Award nomination for writing the title theme to the film Julie; he was also nominated in 1959 for his work on The Five Pennies, and again in 1963 for A New Kind of Love. He also worked in television, scoring Lost in Space and several seasons of Mission: Impossible, and additionally headlined a pair of LPs: the Coral label release Jazz Themes for Cops and Robbers and Exploring the Unknown. Stevens was working as the musical director at Universal at the time of his death on July 23, 1970 -- his wife was killed in an auto accident earlier that same day, and after notifying friends and family of her death, he suffered his own fatal heart attack.
© Jason Ankeny /TiVo
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Discography
19 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Destination Moon (Original Motion Picture Score)
Film Soundtracks - Released by Citadel - Mafy on Mar. 4, 1994
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Golden Age Of Science Fiction, Vol. 1 (Queen Of Outer Space / World Without End)
Film Soundtracks - Released by DDR on Jun. 16, 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Private Hell 36
Jazz - Released by Verve Reissues on Jan. 1, 1954
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The War of the Worlds (Original Soundtrack) [1953]
Paramount Pictures Studio Orchestra
Film Soundtracks - Released by Classic Soundtrack Collector on Feb. 19, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jazz Themes From The Wild One
Jazz - Released by Geffen on Jan. 1, 1953
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Interns. Arranged and Conducted by Leith Stevens and Stu Philips / Leith Stevens' Musical Score for Hell to Eternity
Jazz - Released by Jazz in the Movies on Nov. 1, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jazz Themes From "The Wild One" (OST) (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by RevOla on Feb. 26, 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The James Dean Story
Film Soundtracks - Released by Foyer on Jan. 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hell to Eternity (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Film Soundtracks - Released by Warwick Records on May 10, 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Destination Moon (Original Motion Picture Score) [Digitally Remastered]
Vienna Concert Orchestra, Heinz Sandauer
Film Soundtracks - Released by Essential Media Group on Jan. 1, 1950
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Atomic City (Original Soundtrack) [1952]
Film Soundtracks - Released by Classic Soundtrack Collector on Dec. 16, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Five Pennies (Original Soundtrack) [1959]
Film Soundtracks - Released by Classic Soundtrack Collector on Nov. 2, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The James Dean Story
Soundtracks - Released by Hollywood on Jan. 10, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
OST Destination Moon
Soundtracks - Released by SINETONE AMR on Jul. 21, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The War Of The Worlds (Original Soundtrack 1953)
Pop - Released by JB Production on Aug. 27, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The James Dean Story
Film Soundtracks - Released by SINETONE AMR on Jan. 12, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Gene Krupa Story
Jazz - Released by SINETONE AMR on Aug. 18, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Wild One
Classical - Released by SINETONE AMR on May 7, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The James Dean Story
Film Soundtracks - Released by SINETONE AMR on May 7, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo