One of cinema's greatest composers. He wrote the scores for 'King Kong' from 1933 and 'Gone with the Wind' from 1939. He was part of a select group of composers that included Alfred Newman and Erich Wolfgang Korngold who pioneered the art of film scores.
He studied under Johannes Brahms. He was privately taught by Robert Fuchs and Gustav Mahler.
His film compositions were nominated for Academy Awards 24 times, and he won three: for 1935's "The Informer," 1942's "Now, Voyager," and "Since You Went Away" from 1944.
He grew up an only child in a prosperous, theatrical Jewish family residing in Austria-Hungary. He married twice, to Louise Klos, then to Aubrey in 1924. He was the Godson of Composer Richard Strauss.
He also composed the score to 1942's "Casablanca" starring Humphrey Bogart.
