Jerome Moross
b. 1 August 1913, Brooklyn, New York, USA, d. 25 July 1983, Miami, Florida, USA. A highly regarded composer who wrote symphonic works as well as scores for films and Broadway shows. After graduating from New York University at the age of 18, Moross contributed some incidental music to the theatre, and then composed most of the score for the short-lived Broadway revue PARADE in 1935. Later in that same year he was engaged by George Gershwin as assistant conductor and pianist for the last few weeks of the New York run of Porgy And Bess, and subsequently for the west coast production. Moross moved to Hollywood in 1940 and spent the next decade orchestrating scores for a great many films, including OUR TOWN, ACTION IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC, and CONFLICT. He also worked on Hugo Friedhofer's Oscar-winning score for THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946). In 1948 he was given the opportunity to compose his own original score for CLOSE-UP, which was followed during the '50s and '60s by others such as WHEN I GROW UP, CAPTIVE CITY, THE SHARKFIGHTERS, Hans Christian Andersen (ballet music only), SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD (with David Raksin and Sol Kaplan), THE PROUD REBEL, THE JAYHAWKERS, THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (1960), THE MOUNTAIN ROAD, FIVE FINGER EXERCISE, THE CARDINAL, THE WAR LORD, RACHEL RACHEL, VALLEY OF THE GWANG!, and HAIL, HERO! (1969). His most acclaimed work during that time was undoubtedly for William Wyler's dramatic western, THE BIG COUNTRY (1958), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. The music, and particularly its electrifying main theme, is considered to be among the most memorable in the history of the cinema. His work was also heard regularly on television in such popular programmes as LANCER and WAGON TRAIN. On Broadway, Moross collaborated twice with the author and librettist John Latouche. Firstly in 1948 for BALLET BALLADS, a musical adaptation of three one-act plays; and again in 1954 for THE GOLDEN APPLE, which, although it folded after only 127 performances, won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best musical, and has since become a cult piece. One of its songs, the ballad Lazy Afternoon, has been recorded by several artists, including Tony Bennett. During his long and distinguished career, Moross also won two Guggenheim fellowship awards, in 1947 and 1948. He brought his own individual brand of folksy homespun Americana to his music for ballets such as AMERICAN PATTERNS, THE LAST JUDGEMENT, and FRANKIE AND JOHNNY, along with numerous orchestral works which included Biguine, ‘A Tall Story’, Paeans, ‘Those Everlasting Blues’, and First Symphony. His last completed work was a one-act opera, SORRY, WRONG NUMBER!