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Frank Skinner

Known for: Sound

Biography: 1897-12-31

Deathday: 1968-10-08 (70 years old)

Biography

Frank Skinner (December 31, 1897 – October 9, 1968) was an American film composer and arranger.

Skinner was born in Meredosia, Illinois. A graduate of the Chicago Musical College (now known as the Chicago Conservatory of Music), 16-year-old Frank found employment in vaudeville and began playing in local areas with his brother Carl Skinner of Meredosia Illinois on drums. They were billed as the Skinner Brothers dance band. From there they began playing on the steamboats that went up and down the Illinois River. It was during this time that he began writing and arranging music for dance bands. This work brought him to New York, where from 1925 to 1935 he arranged about 2000 popular songs for Robbins Publishing. By the time he left Manhattan for Hollywood, he had written two books on arranging for dance bands.

After a short period at MGM, working on musical settings for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Skinner was hired by Universal Studios. Over the course of his 30 years there, he composed music for more than 200 films. Although he continued to work on musicals, he quickly mastered the art of dramatic scores, eventually earning five Academy Award nominations (1938–43). He died in Beverly Hills, California, leaving behind his wife Dolly Repine Skinner.

His distinctive approach to scoring horror films, such as Son of Frankenstein (1939) and The Wolf Man (1941), has been characterized as a ‘ion for chromatic lines … mirrored contours … [and] restrained, yet ominously mythical orchestrations’ (Marcello). He gained new recognition in the 1950s for his lush romantic scores, including those for such Douglas Sirk films as Magnificent Obsession (1954) and Written on the Wind (1956). Despite many changes in the film industry, his book Underscore (1950) has survived as an excellent introduction to film music composition.

In 2014, Dallas pre-swing orchestra, The Singapore Slingers released a fifteen-track CD homage to Skinner's arrangements.

Filmography

all 229

Movies 229

Director 2

Producer 1

Composer

Frank Skinner

Biography

Filmography

all 229

Movies 229

Director 2

Producer 1

Saboteur: A Closer Look (2000)

The Ride to Hangman's Tree (1967)

Let's Kill Uncle (1966)

The Appaloosa (1966)

Madame X (1966)

The Wolf Man (1966)

Shenandoah (1965)

The Sword of Ali Baba (1965)

Kitten with a Whip (1964)

Bullet for a Ban (1964)

Captain Newman, M.D. (1963)

Tammy and the Doctor (1963)

The Ugly American (1963)

Back Street (1961)

Midnight Lace (1960)

Portrait in Black (1960)

Imitation of Life (1959)

The Restless Years (1958)

The Perfect Furlough (1958)

Kathy O' (1958)

Once Upon a Horse... (1958)

Step Down to Terror (1958)

This Happy Feeling (1958)

The Tarnished Angels (1957)

Interlude (1957)

The Snow Queen (1957)

My Man Godfrey (1957)

Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)

Tammy and the Bachelor (1957)

The Midnight Story (1957)

The Night Runner (1957)

The Tattered Dress (1957)

Battle Hymn (1957)

Written on the Wind (1956)

Away All Boats (1956)

The Rawhide Years (1956)

Star in the Dust (1956)

Never Say Goodbye (1956)

All That Heaven Allows (1955)

Lady Godiva of Coventry (1955)

One Desire (1955)

Foxfire (1955)

The Shrike (1955)

Revenge of the Creature (1955)

Chief Crazy Horse (1955)

Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955)

6 Bridges to Cross (1955)

Destry (1954)

Sign of the Pagan (1954)

The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)

Magnificent Obsession (1954)

Saskatchewan (1954)

Taza, Son of Cochise (1954)

The Far Country (1954)

Forbidden (1953)

Back to God's Country (1953)

The Stand at Apache River (1953)

Wings of the Hawk (1953)

The Man from the Alamo (1953)

Thunder Bay (1953)

Desert Legion (1953)

The Mississippi Gambler (1953)

Because of You (1952)

The Black Castle (1952)

Horizons West (1952)

The World in His Arms (1952)

The Duel at Silver Creek (1952)

It Grows on Trees (1952)

Bonzo Goes to College (1952)

Lost in Alaska (1952)

Sally and Saint Anne (1952)

No Room for the Groom (1952)

Bend of the River (1952)