A child prodigy, he was giving piano concerts at the age of seven, and was working on Broadway as a conductor when Samuel Goldwyn lured him to Hollywood in 1930. One of his first compositions was the haunting theme for the Depression-era cityscape STREET SCENE (1931). This vivid piece of music became synonymous with Hollywood depictions of New York City, and was reused countless times in the decades ahead. (Newman conducted a performance in stereophonic sound with the 20th Century-Fox orchestra as an overture to HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE in 1953). He composed another oft-used standard for Douglas Fairbanks' MR. ROBINSON CRUSOE (1932) which gained fame when it was reused in THE HURRICANE (1937) and given the title "Moon of Manikoora."
Newman won nine Academy Awards -- for ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND (1938), TIN PAN ALLEY (1940), THE SONG OF BERNADETTE (1943), MOTHER WORE TIGHTS (1947), WITH A SONG IN MY HEART (1952), CALL ME MADAM (1953), LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING (1955), THE KING AND I (1956), and CAMELOT (1967, adaptation only) -- and was nominated 36 other times! As so often happens, film-music buffs would argue (rather persuasively) that some of Newman's best scores were those that didn't win Oscars -- like WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939), HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941), and ALL ABOUT EVE (1950).
His brother Lionel was a composer, conductor, and later musical director at Fox; brother Emil also composed scores at Fox in the 1940s before freelancing in the 1950s and 1960s. Alfred's sons David and Thomas are successful film composers in their own right. Alfred's and Lionel's nephew Randy Newman, a successful pop composer/performer, has written some notable film scores and won his first Oscar (after 15 unsuccessful nominations) for Best Song of 2001.
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Best Score) 1937: THE PRISONER OF ZENDA - as Musical Director & for Score
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Best Score) 1937: THE HURRICANE - as Musical Director & for Score
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Original Score) 1938: THE COWBOY AND THE LADY
Music Scoring Awards (Best Score) 1938: ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Best Score) 1938: THE GOLDWYN FOLLIES
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Original Score) 1939: THE RAINS CAME
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Original Score) 1939: WUTHERING HEIGHTS
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Best Score) 1939: THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Best Score) 1939: THEY SHALL HAVE MUSIC
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Original Score) 1940: THE MARK OF ZORRO
Music Scoring Awards (Best Score) 1940: TIN PAN ALLEY
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic Picture) 1941: BALL OF FIRE
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic Picture) 1941: HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1942: THE BLACK SWAN
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1942: MY GAL SAL
Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1943: THE SONG OF BERNADETTE
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1943: CONEY ISLAND
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1944: WILSON
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1944: IRISH EYES ARE SMILING
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1945: THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1945: STATE FAIR (w. Charles Henderson)
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1946: CENTENNIAL SUMMER
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1947: CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE
Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1947: MOTHER WORE TIGHTS
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1948: THE SNAKE PIT
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1948: WHEN MY BABY SMILES AT ME
Nominated for Music Best Song 1949: COME TO THE STABLE "Through a Long and Sleepless Night" - Music
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1950: ALL ABOUT EVE
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1951: DAVID AND BATHSHEBA
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1951: ON THE RIVIERA
Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1952: WITH A SONG IN MY HEART
Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1953: CALL ME MADAM
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1954: THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS (w. Lionel Newman)
Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1955: LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1955: DADDY LONG LEGS
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1956: ANASTASIA
Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1956: THE KING AND I (w. Ken Darby)
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1958: SOUTH PACIFIC (w. Ken Darby)
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1959: THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK
Nominated for Music Best Song 1959: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING "The Best of Everything" - Music
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1961: FLOWER DRUM SONG (w. Ken Darby)
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Music Score substantially original) 1963: HOW THE WEST WAS WON (w. Ken Darby)
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Music Score substantially original) 1965: THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD
Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of Music adaptation or treatment) 1967: CAMELOT (w. Ken Darby)
Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Best Original Score) 1970: AIRPORT
45 nominations, 9 Awards