- published: 08 Jul 2015
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Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer and conductor, best known for his many film scores.
Newman has received a total of ten Academy Award nominations, although as of 2011, he has yet to win the award. He has however won a BAFTA, two Grammys and an Emmy, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe. Newman was honored with the Richard Kirk award at the 2000 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music.
Born in Los Angeles, California, he was the youngest son of Mississippi-born Martha Louise (née Montgomery) and composer Alfred Newman. He is a member of a film-scoring dynasty in Hollywood that includes his father, brother David Newman, sister Maria Newman, uncles Lionel Newman and Emil Newman, cousin Randy Newman (who is also known as a singer and songwriter) and his nephew Joey Newman. Newman was educated at Yale University before starting his career in music.
His first major score was for the 1984 film Reckless. In 1999, Newman composed the score to Sam Mendes' first feature film American Beauty, created using mainly percussion instruments. Newman believed the score helped move the film along without disturbing the "moral ambiguity" of the script, saying "It was a real delicate balancing act in terms of what music worked to preserve that." This was his first collaboration with Mendes, and he would go on to score all of the director's subsequent films except for Away We Go. He received a fourth Oscar nomination for this score, and although he lost again (to John Corigliano for The Red Violin), he did receive a Grammy and a BAFTA.
Bum buttery, flit fluttery
Dum diddly-ooh
Bum Buttery, bluebird
Is singing a tune.
Daffy-down-dillies awaken
And prune
Bursting in bloom
All the flowers assume
It's a loverly, loverly spring.
Chit-chattery chipmunks
All singing along,
Humming their
Join-in-a-spring-along song.
Spring is the springiest time
For a song
It's a loverly, loverly spring.
In the forest we play