Leigh Harline

Leigh Adrian Harline (March 26, 1907 – December 10, 1969) was a film composer and songwriter. He was known for his "musical sophistication that was uniquely 'Harline-esque' by weaving rich tapestries of mood-setting underscores and penning memorable melodies for animated shorts and features."

Biography

Leigh Harline was born March 26, 1907, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the youngest of 13 children, to soldier Charles Härlin and his wife Johanna Matilda. His parents came from the village of Härfsta in Simtuna parish, Sweden. They joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1888 and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1891. In the U.S. they changed their surname to Harline.^[1] Leigh was baptized a member of the LDS Church at age eight.^[2]

Harline graduated from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir conductor J. Spencer Cornwall. In 1928, he moved to California working at radio stations in San Francisco and Los Angeles as a composer, conductor, arranger, instrumentalist, singer and announcer. In 1931, he provided music for the first transcontinental radio broadcast to originate from the West Coast. He was then hired by Walt Disney where he scored more than 50 tunes, including for the Silly Symphonies cartoon series in the 1930s.

Harline, Frank Churchill, Paul Smith and Larry Morey then scored Disney's first animated feature-length cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. Snow White contained several classic songs, including "I'm Wishing", "Whistle While You Work", "Heigh-Ho" and "Some Day My Prince Will Come."^[3][4]

He next later scored 'Pinocchio for Disney in 1940. The film won his Academy Awards for Academy Award for Best Original Music Score and the song "When You Wish Upon a Star" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.^[3][4]

Harline left Disney in 1941 to compose for other studios. His credits include Road to Utopia (1945), Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), Monkey Business (1952), The Desert Rats (1953) Ten North Frederick (1958), Warlock (1959), The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964).

He died from complications of throat cancer on December 10, 1969, in Long Beach, California, and is buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

Selected filmography

• Blondie on a Budget (1940)
• The Lady Has Plans (1942)
• Road to Utopia (1945)
• Nocturne (1946)
• The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)
• The Boy with Green Hair (1948)
• Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
• Monkey Business (1952)
• Pickup on South Street (1953)
• The Desert Rats (1953)
• Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955)
• 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956)
• Ten North Frederick (1958)
• The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959)
• Warlock (1959)
• Visit to a Small Planet (1960)
• The Honeymoon Machine (1961)
• The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962)
• 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1963)
• Strange Bedfellows (1965)

Sources

• A Century of Animation (includes photo)
• Disney Legends
• LDS Film Composers

References

1. ^ Leigh Harline
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ ^{a b} Erickson, H. "Leigh Harline".  
4. ^ ^{a b} Erickson, H. "Leigh Harline".  

External links

• Leigh Harline at the Internet Movie Database
• Leigh Harline at Find a Grave