Leigh Adrian Harline was a film composer.

Career

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, he worked for various radio stations before joining the Walt Disney studios in 1932 as arranger and scorer. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Music Score

Academy Award for Original Music Score

The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...

 and the Academy Award for Best Original Song

Academy Award for Best Original Song

The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...

 (for "When You Wish Upon a Star

When You Wish upon a Star

"When You Wish upon a Star" is a song written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington for Walt Disney's 1940 adaptation of Pinocchio. The original version of the song was sung by Cliff Edwards in the character of Jiminy Cricket, and is heard over the opening credits and again in the final scene of the...

") for Disney's Pinocchio

Pinocchio (1940 film)

Pinocchio is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the story The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It is the second film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, and it was made after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was released to theaters by...

(1940). The tune later become the theme for Disney's TV series The Wonderful World of Disney.

A graduate of the University of Utah

University of Utah

The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...

, Harline was a musical director for local Los Angeles radio when he was hired by Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 to score the Silly Symphonies

Silly Symphonies

Silly Symphonies is a series of animated short subjects, 75 in total, produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939, while the studio was still located at Hyperion Avenue in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles...

cartoon series in the 1930s. Together with Frank Churchill

Frank Churchill

Frank Churchill was an American composer of popular music for films. He wrote most of the music for Disney's 1937 movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, including "Whistle While You Work" and "Some Day My Prince Will Come"...

, Larry Morey, and Paul J. Smith, Harline was responsible for such Disney-film tunes as "I'm Wishing", "Whistle While You Work

Whistle While You Work

Whistle While You Work is a song with music written by Frank Churchill and lyrics written by Larry Morey for the 1937 animated Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was performed in the movie, at least unofficially, by voice actress Adriana Caselotti...

", "Heigh-Ho

Heigh-Ho

"Heigh-Ho" is a song from Walt Disney's 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, written by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey...

", and "Some Day My Prince Will Come

Some Day My Prince Will Come

"Some Day My Prince Will Come" is a popular song from Walt Disney's 1937 animated movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was written by Larry Morey & Frank Churchill , and performed by Adriana Caselotti...

".

Harline left Disney in 1941 to compose for other studios. His credits include Road to Utopia

Road to Utopia

Road to Utopia, filmed in 1943 but not released until 1946, is the fourth film of the "Road to …" series starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.-Plot:After the credits we see Sal and Chester Hooton, an old married couple...

(1945), Nocturne

Nocturne (1946 film)

Nocturne is a black-and-white film noir starring George Raft and Lynn Bari. The film was produced by longtime Alfred Hitchcock associate Joan Harrison, scripted by Jonathan Latimer, and directed by Edwin L. Marin.-Plot:...

(1946), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer is a 1947 American screwball comedy film directed by Irving Reis. The screenplay was written by Sidney Sheldon. The film stars Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, and Shirley Temple in a story about a teenager's crush on an older man. The film was a critical success...

(1947), The Boy with Green Hair

The Boy with Green Hair

The Boy with Green Hair is a 1948 American comedy-drama film directed by Joseph Losey. It stars Dean Stockwell as Peter, a young war orphan who is subject to ridicule after he awakens one morning to find his hair mysteriously turned green...

(1948), Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is a 1948 American comedy film directed by H.C. Potter and starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. The film was written and produced by the team of Melvin Frank and Norman Panama...

(1948), Monkey Business

Monkey Business

-Film and television:* Monkey Business , an Our Gang film* Monkey Business , a Marx Brothers film* Monkey Business * Monkey Business...

(1952), Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955), 23 Paces to Baker Street

23 Paces to Baker Street

23 Paces to Baker Street is a 1956 American drama film released by 20th Century Fox. The Hitchcockian mystery thriller, filmed in Cinemascope on location in London, focuses on Philip Hannon, a blind playwright who overhears a partial conversation he believes is related to the planning of a kidnapping...

(1956), Ten North Frederick

Ten North Frederick (film)

Ten North Frederick is a 1958 American drama film starring Gary Cooper, written and directed by Philip Dunne. The screenplay is based on the 1955 novel of the same name by John O'Hara.-Plot:...

(1958), The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959), The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm

The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm

The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm is a 1962 American film directed by Henry Levin and George Pal. The latter was the producer and also in charge of the stop motion animation. The film was one of the highest grossing films of 1962. It won one Oscar and was nominated for three additional...

(1962), and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao

7 Faces of Dr. Lao

7 Faces of Dr. Lao is a Metrocolor 1964 film adaptation of the 1935 fantasy novel The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney. It details the visit of a magical circus to a small town in the southwest United States, and the effects that visit has on the people of the town...

(1964).

Harline was a Latter-Day Saint. He died from complications of throat cancer

Head and neck cancer

Head and neck cancer refers to a group of biologically similar cancers that start in the upper aerodigestive tract, including the lip, oral cavity , nasal cavity , paranasal sinuses, pharynx, and larynx. 90% of head and neck cancers are squamous cell carcinomas , originating from the mucosal lining...

, and is buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery

Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery

Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery is located at 10621 Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood, California.The cemetery has a special section called the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation that is the final resting place for a number of aviation pioneers — barnstormers, daredevils and...

.

Sources

• A Century of Animation (includes photo)

External links