Leon Klatzkin

Leon Klatzkin
Born	June 19, 1914 New York, New York, United States
Died	May 13, 1992 Marina Del Rey, California, United States
Other names	Leon Steven Klatzkin
Occupation	Composer
Years active	1947 - 1971 (film & TV)

Leon Klatzkin (1914–1992) was an American music arranger, composer, and conductor notable for his work in television. He also scored films occasionally.

Prolific film and television composer, orchestra conductor, soundtrack orchestrator and arranger. Coming to Hollywood, he worked in the music department of the Hal Roach Studios for eight years, and thereafter moved on to other film companies as well, especially 20th Century-Fox. He joined ASCAP in 1952, and his list of compositions there number well over 600, nearly all of them themes for film and television.

The opening and closing theme of the TV series Adventures of Superman is accredited to Leon Klatzkin. For some reason, despite the Los Angeles Times listing his many compositions for television shows, some think Klatzkin was not a composer, but a Mutel employee, a film cutter who helped film editors select appropriate tracks for their pictures. There is a veritable industry dedicated to the attribution of the Superman theme to various other composers.

Selected filmography

• Inner Sanctum (1948)
• As You Were (1951)
• Captain Scarface (1953)
• Go, Johnny, Go! (1959)

Bibliography

• Terrace, Vincent. Encyclopedia of Television Pilots, 1937-2012. McFarland, 2013.

External links

• Leon Klatzkin at IMDb