American composer
George Bruns
|
---|
Bruns in 1955
|
|
Born
| (
1914-07-03
)
July 3, 1914
Sandy
,
Oregon
, U.S.
|
---|
Died
| May 23, 1983
(1983-05-23)
(aged 68)
Portland
, Oregon, U.S.
|
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Genres
| |
---|
Occupation(s)
| - Composer
- conductor
- musician
|
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Instrument(s)
| - Trombone
- tuba
- double bass
- piano
|
---|
Years active
| 1930s?1983
|
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Musical artist
George Edward Bruns
(July 3, 1914 ? May 23, 1983) was an American
composer
of music for film and television. His accolades include four
Academy Award
nominations and three
Grammy Award
nominations. He is mainly known for his compositions for numerous
Disney
films from the 1950s to the 1970s, among them
Sleeping Beauty
(1959),
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
,
The Absent-Minded Professor
(both 1961),
The Sword in the Stone
(1963),
The Jungle Book
(1967),
The Love Bug
(1968),
The Aristocats
(1970), and
Robin Hood
(1973).
A native of
Sandy, Oregon
, Bruns began playing piano at age six. After graduating from
Oregon State University
, he worked as a bandleader at the
Multnomah Hotel
in
Portland
before relocating to
Los Angeles
to further pursue a musical career. In 1953, Bruns was hired as a musical arranger at
Walt Disney Studios
, eventually going on to become the studio's music director, a role he served from the mid 1950s until his retirement in 1976.
Over the course of his career, Bruns was nominated for four Academy Awards for his work on Disney films, including
Scoring of a Musical Picture
for
Sleeping Beauty
and
Babes in Toyland
(1961), and Best Adaptation or Treatment for
The Sword in the Stone
. He received his final nomination for
Best Original Song
for the track "
Love
" from
Robin Hood
.
Bruns spent his later years in his native Oregon, composing music and instructing at
Lewis & Clark College
. He died in Portland in 1983 of a
heart attack
. In 2001, he was posthumously inducted as a
Disney Legend
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Early life
[
edit
]
George Edward Bruns was born on July 3, 1914, in
Sandy, Oregon
[1]
one of three children born to Augusta (nee Weyer) and Edward Bruns.
[2]
He had one older and one younger sister.
[2]
His father was a lumber mill proprietor, and built the first lumber mill on
Mount Hood
, which was eventually relocated to Sandy.
[2]
Bruns expressed interest in music at an early age: He began playing piano at age six, and subsequently learned how to play the
bass tuba
.
[2]
He eventually became proficient in 15 different instruments, and began performing with a high school band while still in elementary school.
[2]
He attended and graduated from
Sandy High School
,
[2]
and went on to study engineering at
Oregon State University
, where he was a member of
Lambda Chi Alpha
fraternity.
[3]
In the 1930s he worked as a musician with various groups in the
Portland, Oregon
, area, and also performed in a traveling band.
[2]
In 1946 he was appointed musical director at radio station
KEX
in Portland, and also was the bandleader for the Rose Bowl room of the
Multnomah Hotel
. From 1947 to 1949 he performed and recorded on trombone with Portland's
Castle Jazz Band
, led by banjoist Monte Ballou.
Career with Walt Disney
[
edit
]
In the late 1940s, he moved to
Los Angeles
, where he did studio work, performed, and recorded with trombonist
Turk Murphy
's Jazz Band. In 1953, he was hired by
Walt Disney
as an arranger, eventually becoming Disney's musical director, a position he held until his retirement in 1976. Despite his retirement, he continued to work on Disney projects.
During the mid-1950s in 1953 at the Disney Studio, his first assignment was when he composed and adapted the music from
Tchaikovsky
's
Sleeping Beauty
ballet for use as background score in the 1959 Disney
film version
. In addition to composing live action films such as
The Absent-Minded Professor
and
Babes in Toyland
, he went on to compose the scores for
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
,
The Sword in the Stone
,
The Jungle Book
, and
The Aristocats
. His last Disney animated film he arranged the score was in
Robin Hood
. Bruns also provided
Herbie
the Love Bug
with his sprightly theme song, featured prominently throughout the series. Among his other works include the song "
Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)
" (which he co-wrote with
Xavier Atencio
) from the Disney theme park attraction
Pirates of the Caribbean
and later used in
the film series
based on that ride, "
The Ballad of Davy Crockett
" with
Tom W. Blackburn
, the title song from the 1956
Humphrey the Bear
cartoon
In the Bag
, and the song "
Love
" with
Floyd Huddleston
from
Robin Hood
.
During his tenure with Disney Studios, Bruns continued to play
dixieland
jazz, leading his Wonderland Jazz Band on two recording sessions, and playing and recording occasionally with the Disney "house" band, the
Firehouse Five Plus Two
.
Retirement and later years
[
edit
]
Bruns retired from Disney in 1976 and left California, returning to his native Sandy, Oregon.
[2]
He instructed music part-time at
Lewis & Clark College
and continued to perform and compose, including recording at least one locally distributed album of
jazz
.
[1]
Death
[
edit
]
Bruns died of a
heart attack
on May 23, 1983, in
Portland, Oregon
.
[1]
He had also suffered from
diabetes
in his later life.
[2]
He was survived by his wife, Dorothy Colclough, and their six children.
[2]
Bruns was cremated, and a service was held at the Chapel of the Hills in
Wemme, Oregon
.
[2]
He was interred at Fir Hill Cemetery in
Clackamas County
. Bruns was named a
Disney Legend
in 2001.
Selected film scores
[
edit
]
All films produced by
Walt Disney Productions
except where noted.
- P
Produced and released by
Paramount Pictures
Accolades
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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*
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International
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