American composer
Nathan Scott
(May 11, 1915 ? February 27, 2010) was an American
film score
and
television
composer
. He composed,
conducted
,
arranged
and
orchestrated
more than 850 separate credits in television, as well as the music for more than 100 films.
[1]
[2]
His credits in television included
Lassie
,
The Twilight Zone
and
Dragnet
, while his film credits included the film score for
Wake of the Red Witch
.
[1]
Biography
[
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]
Early life
[
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]
Scott was born in
Salinas, California
.
[1]
He received a
bachelor's degree
in music from the
University of California, Berkeley
in 1939.
[1]
[2]
He began working in radio broadcasting after graduation.
Career
[
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]
Scott was named the
West Coast
music director
for
Blue Network
, which was owned by
NBC
, in 1942.
[1]
However, he was soon drafted into the
United States Army
during
World War II
, where wrote music and played the
trombone
for the
Air Transport Command Band
, based in Long Beach, California.
[2]
He later
conducted
shows on the
Armed Forces Radio Service
such as
Command Performance
.
[1]
Following the end of World War II, Scott was hired by
Republic Pictures
as a staff composer for six years, beginning in 1946.
[1]
[2]
He composed, conducted or orchestrated "dozens" of
film scores
for Republic Pictures, including
Heart of the Rockies
and
Wake of the Red Witch
, starring
John Wayne
.
[1]
Though much of his career would focus on scoring for television, his later
film credits
at other
film studios
included MGM's 1961
X-15
and
Montana Belle
, which was released by
RKO Pictures
in 1953.
[1]
Scott left Republic Pictures in 1952.
[2]
Beginning in the early 1950s, Scott spent most of his career composing for television. Starting in 1952, Scott orchestrated and
arranged
music for
Dragnet
'
s original composer,
Walter Schumann
.
[1]
[2]
Scott did the arrangements for all
Dragnet
episodes, until the show's
series finale
in 1959.
[2]
Scott also composed the score for approximately six
Dragnet
episodes.
[2]
Scott wrote the theme music for the 1964 dramatic series,
Slattery's People
, which aired during the 1964-1965
television season
.
[1]
[2]
He also worked on the
Twilight Zone
for two episodes, scoring the music for
A Stop at Willoughby
in 1960.
[1]
In 1963, Scott began working on the classic television series,
Lassie
.
[1]
He scored virtually all the episodes of
Lassie
(except for 4
[2]
) until the show ended its run in 1974.
[1]
His 1950s and 1960s television credits included episodes of
My Three Sons
,
Steve Canyon
,
The Untouchables
,
Rawhide
and
Wagon Train
.
[1]
Scott orchestrated for a number of other prominent television and film composers beginning in the 1970s, including
Quincy Jones
on
The Color Purple
, his son
Tom Scott
in
Hanky Panky
and
Stu Phillips
for
The Fall Guy
and
Battlestar Galactica
.
[1]
Nathan Scott died of natural causes at his home in
Sherman Oaks
, California, on February 27, 2010, at the age of 94.
[1]
He was survived by his son,
Grammy
-winning
saxophonist
Tom Scott
; his second wife, Frances McCune Scott; his daughter, Linda Colley; his brother and two grandchildren.
[1]
His first wife, Margery, died in 1995.
[2]
Selected filmography
[
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]
References
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]
External links
[
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]