Paul Sawtell

Music Director, Composer

1906 – 1971

91

Who was Paul Sawtell?

Paul Sawtell was a Polish-born film score composer in the United States.

Sawtell began his career with RKO, and eventually joined Universal Pictures. Sawtell worked on many western and horror films, and also scored the Sherlock Holmes films The Pearl of Death and The Scarlet Claw. In the late 1940s, Sawtell returned to RKO. He also worked for various independent producers, including Eagle-Lion Films' production of T-Men. He also composed and arranged the uncredited music for the Venice, Italy sequences in This is Cinerama. In the late 1950s, Sawtell struck up an alliance with fellow film composer Bert Shefter and they produced many film scores together. Most notably they provided the music to classic science fiction and horror films including Kronos, The Fly, Curse of the Fly, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and It! The Terror from Beyond Space in 1958. In 1965 they composed some scores for the director Russ Meyer, such as the cult classic Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and Motorpsycho. The last score they provided was for the Mexican film Emiliano Zapata in 1970 shortly before Sawtell's death.

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Born
Feb 3, 1906
Gilve
Also known as
  • P. Sawtell
  • Paul Sawtelle
Nationality
  • Poland
Profession
Died
Aug 1, 1971
Los Angeles County
Resting place
Forest Lawn Memorial Park

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

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