Laurence Rosenthal
Composer Laurence Rosenthal received the Society of Composers & Lyricists’ eighth Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th SCL Los Angeles Holiday Dinner on Wednesday, December 20th.
In addition to a montage of highlighted scores, a congratulatory video message from engineer Malcolm Luker, and an orchestral performance of Rosenthal’s work orchestrated and conducted by SCL Board Member Cindy O’Connor, the audience was treated to a live acceptance speech from London, England.
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More about Laurence Rosenthal
Laurence Rosenthal is a two-time Oscar nominee and seven-time Emmy winner whose résumé includes some of the finest, and best-loved, films of the 1960s and ’70s: A Raisin in the Sun (1961), The Miracle Worker (1962), Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), Becket (1964), and The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976), among others.
Much of his later work, in the 1980s and ’90s, was for television, and it ranks among the most distinguished in the history of the medium. He won three consecutive Emmys for the miniseries Peter the Great (1986), Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986), and The Bourne Identity (1988) and went on to win three more for his colorful, lively, and fun music for George Lucas’ globe-spanning, adventure-filled Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992–96).
Rosenthal’s deep understanding of music and drama is evident even in lesser-known films, such as his collaboration with Peter Glenville on the Oscar-nominated Becket, Hotel Paradiso (1966), and The Comedians (1967). His second Oscar nomination was for adapting the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha into a film score (1972). His other acclaimed work ranges from the sci-fi Meteor (1979) and fantasy Clash of the Titans (1981) to the period miniseries George Washington (1984) and Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985).
His small-screen work also includes the fondly remembered themes for Coronet Blue(1967) and Fantasy Island (1977–83), the Emmy-winning documentary score for Michelangelo: The Last Giant (1965), and the final film work of both Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott in Inherit the Wind (1999).
Born in Detroit in 1926, Rosenthal began his music studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, then moved to Paris to study with the renowned Nadia Boulanger, and on to Salzburg to learn conducting at the Mozarteum. Later, while serving in the Air Force, he was chief composer for a documentary film unit. For Broadway, he composed the songs for the sadly short-lived 1967 musical Sherry! (based on The Man Who Came to Dinner).