Ned Washington
Ned Washington | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Edward Michael Washington |
Born | Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S. | August 15, 1901
Died | December 20, 1976 Beverly Hills, California, U.S. | (aged 75)
Occupation(s) | Lyricist |
Ned Washington (born Edward Michael Washington, August 15, 1901 – December 20, 1976) was an American lyricist born in Scranton, Pennsylvania.[1]
Life and career[edit]
Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards from 1940 to 1962. He won the Best Original Song award twice: in 1940 for "When You Wish Upon a Star" in Pinocchio and in 1952 for "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin')" in High Noon.
Washington had his roots in vaudeville as a master of ceremonies. Having started his songwriting career with Earl Carroll's Vanities on Broadway in the late 1920s, he joined the ASCAP in 1930. In 1934, he was signed by MGM and relocated to Hollywood, eventually writing full scores for feature films. During the 1940s, he worked for a number of studios, including Paramount, Warner Brothers, Disney, and Republic.
During these tenures, he collaborated with many of the great composers of the era, including Hoagy Carmichael, Victor Young, Max Steiner, and Dimitri Tiomkin.
With Leigh Harline, he contributed most of the melodic songs that distinguished the Pinocchio soundtrack, including "When You Wish Upon a Star".
He also served as a director of the ASCAP from 1957 until 1976, the year he died.[2]
Washington is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His grave is located in Culver City's Holy Cross Cemetery.
Songs[edit]
Some of Washington's songwriting credits include:
- "Town Without Pity" (music by Dimitri Tiomkin, 1961), sung in the movie by Gene Pitney[3]
- "Rawhide" (music by Dimitri Tiomkin, 1958), sung in the TV show by Frankie Laine[4]
- "Wild Is the Wind" (music by Dimitri Tiomkin, 1956) sung in the movie by Johnny Mathis[5]
- "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (music by Dimitri Tiomkin, 1956), sung in the movie by Frankie Laine[6]
- "The 3:10 to Yuma" (music by George Duning, 1957), sung in the movie by Frankie Laine[7]
- "The High and the Mighty" (music by Dimitri Tiomkin, 1954) (Deleted from the final "cut" of the movie, but nominated anyway for the Best Song at the 27th Academy Awards; also deleted from the recent "restoration" by Batjac)
- Lyrics from the musical numbers in the film Let's Do It Again, 1953.
- "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin')" in the film High Noon, sung by Tex Ritter.[8]
- "My Foolish Heart" (music by Victor Young, 1950)
- "On Green Dolphin Street" (music by Bronislau Kaper, 1947)
- "Stella by Starlight" (music by Victor Young), 1944), recorded by Ella Fitzgerald on her Verve album Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie!, also covered by Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and Chet Baker [2]
- "Baby Mine" and "When I See an Elephant Fly" for Dumbo (music by Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace, 1941),[9] the first sung in the movie by Betty Noyes (uncredited); nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song at the 14th Academy Awards and the second by the character Dandy (Jim) Crow, voiced by Cliff Edwards (uncredited), also known as "Ukulele Ike".
- "When You Wish Upon a Star" for Pinocchio (music by Leigh Harline, 1940),[10] sung in the movie by the character Jiminy Cricket, voiced by Cliff Edwards, also known as "Ukulele Ike", won the Academy Award for Best Song at the 13th Academy Awards.[2]
- "The Nearness of You" (with Hoagy Carmichael, 1938) written for Gladys Swarthout for the film Romance in the Dark [2]
- "Smoke Rings" (music by H. Eugene Gifford, 1932)
- "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" (music by George Bassman, 1932), used by Tommy Dorsey as his theme song [2]
- "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You" (music by Victor Young, 1932), recorded by Ella Fitzgerald on her Pablo release Digital III at Montreux.
- "Singin' in the Bathtub" (with Herb Magidson; music by Michael H. Cleary, 1929)
References[edit]
- ^ Jasen, David A. (2003). Tin Pan Alley: An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song. New York: Routledge. p. 411. ISBN 978-0415938778.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- ^ a b c d e Jasen 2003, p. 412.
- ^ Pitney, Gene, Gene Pitney : 25 All-Time Greatest Hits, Varese Sarabande, 1999, liner notes
- ^ Television’s Greatest Hits, Volume II, TeeVee Tunes, Inc., New York, 1986 liner notes
- ^ Mathis, Johnny, The Music of Johnny Mathis: A Personal Collection, Columbia Music, 1993
- ^ Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, DVD, Paramount, 1956
- ^ 3:10 to Yuma, DVD, Columbia Pictures, 1957
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ The Music of Disney : A Legacy in Song, Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney Music, 1992 p. 56
- ^ Disney 1992, p. 56.
External links[edit]
- Ned Washington on IMDb
- Do Not Forsake Me: The Ballad of High Noon and the Rise of the Movie Theme Song (Senses of Cinema)
- High Noon: Score and Song
- Ned Washington at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
This article on a United States composer born in the 20th century is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 1901 births
- 1976 deaths
- Musicians from Scranton, Pennsylvania
- Songwriters from Pennsylvania
- Best Original Song Academy Award-winning songwriters
- Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners
- American musical theatre lyricists
- Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
- Broadway composers and lyricists
- 20th-century American composers
- Animation composers
- Disney people
- Walt Disney Animation Studios people
- American composer, 20th-century birth stubs