Adolph Deutsch

Who was Adolph Deutsch?

Adolph Deutsch was a composer, conductor and arranger. He was born in London, England.

In 1914, Deutsch was "a Buffalo movie house musician", accompanying silent films. Deutsch began his composing career on Broadway in the 1920s and 1930s before working for Hollywood films beginning in the late 1930s. For Broadway, he orchestrated Irving Berlin's As Thousands Cheer and George and Ira Gershwin's Pardon My English.

Deutsch won Oscars for his background music for Oklahoma!, and for conducting the music for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Annie Get Your Gun. He was nominated for The Band Wagon and the 1951 film version of Show Boat, for which he conducted the orchestra. For Broadway and Hollywood, he conducted, composed and arranged music, but did not write songs, not even for the Broadway shows on which he worked. In addition to his music for westerns and his conducting of the scores for musicals, Deutsch composed for films noir, including The Mask of Dimitrios, The Maltese Falcon, and Nobody Lives Forever, and the Billy Wilder comedies Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment.

He retired in 1961 and died in 1980 at his home in Palm Desert, California.