North, Alex
North, Alex (b Chester, Pa., 1910; d Pacific Palisade, Calif., 1991). Amer. composer and conductor. Cond. for dance troupe in Mexico 1939. During war service comp. scores of over 25 documentary films. After 1946 concentrated on film mus. Was nominated 15 times for Academy Award and finally was awarded Oscar in 1986. Among his film scores were: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); Death of a Salesman (1951); The Rose Tattoo (1955); The Sound and the Fury (1959); Spartacus (1960); The Children's Hour (1961); The Misfits (1961); The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965); Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966); Bite the Bullet (1975); Under the Volcano (1984); The Penitent (1986); Good Morning, Vietnam (1988). Other works incl. ballets American Lyric (1937), Golden Fleece (1941), and Daddy Long Legs Dream (1955, for Astaire-Caron film); Revue, cl., orch. (1946); Syms. No.1 (1947), No.2 (1968), No.3 (1971). His commissioned score for Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey was not used and became basis of 3rd Sym.
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North, Alex
