Alex North

American composer and conductor

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Born:: Dec. 4, 1910, Chester, Pa., U.S.

Died:: Sept. 8, 1991, Pacific Palisades, Calif.

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Alex North (born Dec. 4, 1910, Chester, Pa., U.S.—died Sept. 8, 1991, Pacific Palisades, Calif.) was a U.S. film composer and conductor. North studied at the Curtis Institute and Juilliard. In the early 1930s he traveled to Moscow and became the sole American member of the Union of Soviet Composers. He composed ballet scores for Martha Graham and others and later studied and conducted in Mexico City. North’s score for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), the first jazz-based film score, brought him to prominence. His dozens of films over 30 years include Spartacus (1960), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), and Prizzi’s Honor (1985).

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