Friedhofer, Hugo William

Of the pioneers of Hollywood film music, Hugo Friedhofer (1901-1981) is probably the least-remembered. Yet during his life, his peers considered him among the best---perhaps the dean of movie music. One reason he may be lost in the shuffle is that he spent years orchestrating the music of others. Another may be that his music, while substantial and in tune with the films for which it was written, lacked a certain "pop" element. Yet what would An Affair to Remember or The Best Years of Our Lives be without his compositions? And who knows how Casablanca or Gone with the Wind, for example, would have been received without his orchestration.