Herschel Burke Gilbert

Herschel Burke Gilbert
Born April 20, 1918(1918-04-20)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Died June 8, 2003(2003-06-08) (aged 85)
Los Angeles, California
Alma mater

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Juilliard School of Music
Spouse Trudy Gilbert (married sixty years at his death)
Children

Toby G. Bernstein
Gwen G. Olson
John Gilbert

Paul Gilbert

Herschel Burke Gilbert (April 20, 1918 – June 8, 2003) was a prolific orchestrator, musical supervisor and composer of film scores as well as television scores and theme songs, including the themes for The Rifleman (starring Chuck Connors), Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater and The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor.[1] Gilbert once estimated that his compositions had been used in at least three thousand individual episodes of various television series.

Contents

Early years and education

Gilbert was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the age of nine, he began studying the violin in Shorewood in Milwaukee County. By the time he was 15, he had formed his own dance band.[2] He attended Milwaukee State Teachers College (now University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee) and studied for four years: two as an undergraduate and two as a graduate, from 1939–1943 at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City.[3] After Juilliard, Gilbert won a music scholarship to the Berkshire Music Festival in Massachusetts, where he studied under Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. He also played the viola with bandleader Harry James.

Television and film theme songs

Gilbert was known to millions for theme songs on American television, including among others The Rifleman, The Big Valley, Gilligan's Island, Gunsmoke, The Adventures of Superman, Leave It to Beaver, Michael Shayne, The Lawless Years, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Johnny Ringo The Westerner, Harrigan and Son, Mrs. G. Goes to College, McKeever and the Colonel, and Burke's Law.[4]

His film work includes It's a Wonderful Life (1947), The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), It Came from Beneath the Sea (1954), Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956), No Place to Hide (1956), Comanche (1956), Slaughter On Tenth Avenue (1957), and Sam Whiskey (1969).[4]

Later years

Gilbert retired from television in 1966 and formed his own company, Laurel Records, which produces classical chamber music as well as some jazz. Prior to his death, he joined with his son, John Gilbert, to produce more than sixty LPs and twenty-eight CDs.[5]

Gilbert died in Los Angeles from complications of a stroke. He was survived by his wife, Trudy; daughters Toby G. Bernstein and Gwen Olson; sons John and Paul; and three grandchildren.[5]

References

  1. ^ Burlingame, Jon (2003-06-13). "FMS: Feature ["Rifleman" Composer Herschel Burke Gilbert Dead at 85]". Filmmusicsociety.org. http://www.filmmusicsociety.org/news_events/features/2003/061303_2.html. Retrieved 2011-09-19. 
  2. ^ "Herschel Burke Gilbert". Laurelrecord.com. http://www.laurelrecord.com/herschel_bio.html. Retrieved 2011-09-19. 
  3. ^ "Herschel Burke Gilbert Obituary". Laurelrecord.com. http://www.laurelrecord.com/herschel_obit.html. Retrieved 2011-09-19. 
  4. ^ a b "Herschel Burke Gilbert". findagrave.com. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7573548. Retrieved September 19, 2011. 
  5. ^ a b "Dennis McLellan, "Herschel Gilbert, 85; Wrote, Arranged Music for Movies, TV," June 14, 2003". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2003/jun/14/local/me-gilbert14. Retrieved September 19, 2011.