As a John Wayne movie buff I have become a real fan of the music composer Dimitri Tiomkin and have many of his movie themes on CD. According to Wikipedia:
Dmitri Tiomkin) (May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a film score composer and conductor. Along with Max Steiner, Miklós Rózsa and Franz Waxman, Tiomkin was one of the most productive and decorated film music writers of Hollywood.
Many classic scores followed, many of which were Western movies, like High Noon (1952), Giant (1956), Friendly Persuasion (1956), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Rio Bravo (1959), The Alamo (1960), The Guns of Navarone (1961), Town Without Pity (1961), 55 Days at Peking (1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), and The War Wagon (1967).
He was the first composer to receive two Oscars (score and song) for the same dramatic film, High Noon. The film uses a song to introduce the film and the lyrics tell the whole story in under 2 minutes and 30 seconds.[3]
He was nominated a number of times for Acadamy Awards and won four Oscars as follows:
Academy Awards, USA
1972 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song" Score for Chaikovsky (1969)
1965 - nominated for "Best Music, Score - Substantially Original" for: The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
1964 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" and "Best Music, Score - Substantially Original" for 55 Days at Peking (1963)
1962 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for Town Without Pity (1961) AND for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for The Guns of Navarone (1961)
1961 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" and for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for The Alamo (1960)
1961 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for The Young Land (1959)
1959 - won an Oscar for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for The Old Man and the Sea (1958)
1958 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for Wild Is the Wind (1957)
1957 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for Friendly Persuasion, "Best Scoring of a Dramatic Picture" for "Giant" (1956)
1955 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for The High and the Mighty (1954) and won an Oscar for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for the same movie
1953 - won (with Ned Washington) an Oscar for "Best Music, Original Song" for High Noon (1952) for "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'", sung by Tex Ritter 1953 - won an Oscar for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for High Noon (1952)
1950 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for Champion (1949)
1945 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944)
1944 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for The Moon and Sixpence (1943)
1943 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for The Corsican Brothers (1941)
1940 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring" for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
My favorite John Wayne Movie scores by Tiomkin are:
1. Red River
2. The High and the Mighty
3. The Alamo
4. Rio Bravo
5. The War Waggon
He also did the theme for the Clint Eastwood TV series "Rawhide" and did Frank Capra's "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" and "It's a Wonderful Life"
Click on the title for a link to more information about Demitri Tiomkin at dimitritiomkin.com. Check it out, it is a great site and has audio clips of his musical scores.
