Hugo Friedhofer

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Hugo Wilhelm Friedhofer (May 3, 1901 - May 17, 1981) was a film music composer born in San Francisco. From a musical family, Friedhofer began playing cello at the age of 13. After taking lessons at Berkley, he worked as a cellist for the People's Symphony Orchestra.

In 1929 he worked on his first film performing as a musician for Sunny Side Up, for Fox Studios. Later, he was hired as an orchestrator for Warner Bros. and worked on over 50 films for the studio. While at Warner, he chiefly worked with Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, both composers relying heavily on his skill in turning their sketches into full scores.

In 1937, Friedhofer composed his first full-length film score, The Adventures of Marco Polo. Though he still worked as an orchestrator through the 30s and into the 40s, he gradually received more assignments as a composer, receiving an Academy Award for The Best Years of Our Lives in 1946. Friedhofer was also nominated for other films, including The Bishop's Wife, Joan of Arc, Above and Beyond, Between Heaven and Hell, Boy on a Dolphin, An Affair to Remember, and The Young Lions.

Friedhofer, who was greatly admired by his colleagues, was also noted for his caustic, self-deprecating wit. When asked by fellow composer David Raksin as to the progress he was making on his score for Joan of Arc, he replied, "I've just started on the barbecue!". In reply to an interview by the late Page Cook of Films in Review about his place in the pantheon of film musicians, Friedhofer said, "I am just a fake giant among real pygmies."

Biography: Hugo Friedhofer: the best years of his life: a Hollywood master of music for the movies, Linda Danly, ed. (Scarecrow Press, 1999).

He died in Los Angeles on May 17, 1981.