American songwriter
Fred Karlin
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Born
| (
1936-06-16
)
June 16, 1936
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Died
| March 26, 2004
(2004-03-26)
(aged 67)
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Occupation
| Composer
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Frederick James Karlin
[1]
(June 16, 1936 ? March 26, 2004) was an American composer of more than 130 scores for
feature films
and
television movies
.
[1]
He also was an accomplished
trumpeter
adept at playing
jazz
,
blues
,
classical
,
rock
, and
medieval music
.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Karlin was born in
Chicago
,
Illinois
.
[2]
[3]
He had a brother, Kenneth.
[2]
[3]
Karlin began playing
jazz
trumpet
[3]
in 1950.
[2]
He studied jazz composition with
William Russo
and earned a
Bachelor of Arts
degree from
Amherst College
, graduating with honors.
[2]
His
String Quartet No. 2
was his honors
thesis
.
Career
[
edit
]
Following graduation from college, Karlin moved to
New York City
in 1958.
[4]
He composed and arranged for various bands, including those of
Benny Goodman
,
[3]
Harry James
,
[5]
and
Chubby Jackson
. During this period he also composed and arranged for
documentary films
, the
Radio City Music Hall
orchestra, and
television commercials
.
In 1962, Karlin scored a
record album
for
Columbia
of extracts from the
comic strip
Peanuts
, performed by actress
Kaye Ballard
as Lucy and songwriter
Arthur Siegel
as Charlie Brown. The innovative score was performed by Karlin entirely on children's musical instruments and toys.
Film and television
[
edit
]
Karlin began his film career with
Up the Down Staircase
in 1967.
[3]
[1]
Following in quick succession were
Yours, Mine and Ours
(1968),
The Stalking Moon
(1968),
The Sterile Cuckoo
(1969),
[3]
The Baby Maker
(1970),
Cover Me Babe
(1970) and
Lovers and Other Strangers
(1970).
[3]
For the latter he wrote the music for the song
"For All We Know"
,
[3]
which won the 1971
Academy Award for Best Original Song
and was a Top 10 hit for
The Carpenters
.
[1]
The Sandpipers
charted
with another of his compositions, "
Come Saturday Morning
".
[1]
Other Karlin scores were nominated for three Academy Awards, including one for the movie
The Little Ark
(Based on a novel by
Jan de Hartog
) in 1972, his wife, Marsha, was also nominated for the same film. His other film scores included
The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(1971),
Believe in Me
(1971),
Every Little Crook and Nanny
(1972),
Westworld
(1973),
[3]
The Spikes Gang
(1974),
Chosen Survivors
(1974),
The Gravy Train
(1974),
Mixed Company
(1974),
Mastermind
(1976),
Baby Blue Marine
(1976),
Futureworld
(1976),
Greased Lightning
(1977),
Mean Dog Blues
(1978),
California Dreaming
(1979),
Ravagers
(1979),
Cloud Dancer
(1980) and
Loving Couples
(1980).
However the bulk of Karlin's work was in television. His compositions were nominated for the
Emmy Award
eleven times, and he won for
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
in 1974.
[3]
Other TV films included
The Man Who Could Talk to Kids
(1973),
Born Innocent
(1974),
Bad Ronald
(1974),
The Dream Makers
(1975),
Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway
(1976),
Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn
(1977),
The Death of Richie
(1977),
Minstrel Man
(1977, for which he received an
NAACP Image Award
),
[1]
The Hostage Heart
(1977),
Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A.
(1977),
Lucan
(1978),
Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter
(1979),
Vampire
(1979),
Sophia Loren: Her Own Story
(1980),
Miracle on Ice
(1981),
Bitter Harvest
(1981),
Inside the Third Reich
(1982),
Baby Sister
(1983),
Dadah Is Death
(1988),
Murder C.O.D.
(1990),
Her Wicked Ways
(1991) and
The Secret
(1992).
Author
[
edit
]
Karlin wrote three books about film composition,
On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring
(1990),
[3]
Listening to Movies: The Film Lover's Guide to Film Music
(1994), and
100 Great Film Scores
, which was published posthumously in 2005. He also wrote a reference book detailing and cataloguing the thousands of recordings the
Edison Company
distributed between 1914 and 1929.
On the Track
has been considered highly influential and authoritative for film and TV composers.
[5]
Personal life and death
[
edit
]
Karlin married musician and musicologist Margaret "Meg" Anne (nee Stagg) Karlin (a.k.a. Tylwyth Kymry
[1]
and Meg Welles
[6]
) in 1963.
[2]
They recorded three albums together.
[2]
The couple had two daughters, Wendy Karlin and Kathryn Velasquez, and two sons, Eric and Kristopher
[6]
and four grandchildren.
[2]
In 1978, Wendy murdered Kristopher, and she later served a short-term sentence in a mental hospital.
[7]
Kristopher's death was a great blow to Fred.
[8]
Fred Karlin died at age 67 of
cancer
in
Culver City
,
California
.
[3]
His widow Meg died July 31, 2016, in
West Hollywood, California
.
[6]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Oliver, Myrna (May 4, 2004).
"Fred Karlin, 67; Eclectic Musician Won Oscar, Emmy"
. Retrieved
August 20,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
"Composer Fred Karlin Dead at 67"
.
FilmMusicSociety.org
. May 2, 2004
. Retrieved
August 20,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
Sisario, Ben (May 10, 2004).
"Fred Karlin, 67, Film Composer"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
August 20,
2019
.
- ^
Tynan, John. "Fred Karlin." "BMI: The Many Worlds of Music," October 1971, 19. (
https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/BMI-Magazine/70s/BMI-Magazine-1971-10.pdf
)
- ^
a
b
Burlingame, Jon (May 3, 2004).
"Fred Karlin: Oscar- and Emmy-winning composer"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
August 20,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Margaret Karlin Obituary"
.
legacy.com
. Retrieved
August 20,
2019
.
- ^
"Radio Swiss Jazz - Music database - Musician"
.
- ^
"[Article]".
Los Angeles Herald Examiner
. September 1978.
- Wright, H. Stephen; Limbacher, James L.
Keeping Score: Film and Television Music, 1980?1988
. Scarecrow Press, 1991.
- Fred Karlin
at the OscarSite.com
- Fred Karlin
at RateYourMusic.com
External links
[
edit
]
Awards for Fred Karlin
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1934?1940
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1941?1950
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1951?1960
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1961?1970
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1971?1980
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1981?1990
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1991?2000
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2001?2010
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2011?2020
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2021?present
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1950s
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1960s
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1970s
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1980s
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1990s
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2000s
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2010s
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2020s
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International
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National
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Artists
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Other
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