Composer, Orchestra Conductor. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he began playing the violin at age four and became Music Director of Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California in 1922. He served as head of the Warner Brothers Motion Picture Studios Music Department from 1926 until his death, and arranged and conducted the scores for hundreds of Warner films, being largely responsible for their distinctive brassy sound. He brought composers Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold to the studio, shared an Academy Award with Korngold for "Anthony Adverse" (1936), and was Oscar-nominated (with Steiner) for "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1936) and "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937). It is debatable whether Forbstein deserved these honors, however, since in the early years of Oscar competition the heads of studio music departments were automatically nominated along with the composers. (This practice was discontinued in 1938). He died of a heart attack while preparing the music for the 1948 Academy Awards ceremony.
Composer, Orchestra Conductor. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he began playing the violin at age four and became Music Director of Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California in 1922. He served as head of the Warner Brothers Motion Picture Studios Music Department from 1926 until his death, and arranged and conducted the scores for hundreds of Warner films, being largely responsible for their distinctive brassy sound. He brought composers Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold to the studio, shared an Academy Award with Korngold for "Anthony Adverse" (1936), and was Oscar-nominated (with Steiner) for "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1936) and "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937). It is debatable whether Forbstein deserved these honors, however, since in the early years of Oscar competition the heads of studio music departments were automatically nominated along with the composers. (This practice was discontinued in 1938). He died of a heart attack while preparing the music for the 1948 Academy Awards ceremony.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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