Born in Königsbutte, Silezia, Germany (now Chorzow, Poland). A piano player from early childhood, he quit a job as a bank clerk at 17 to enroll at the Dresden Music Academy and later the Berlin Music Conservatory. He worked his way through school playing the piano in cafés and nightclubs. He joined UFA studios in 1930 and orchestrated and later scored over a dozen German films. In 1934, after being beaten up on a Berlin street by a gang of anti-Semitic hooligans, he moved to Paris, and the following year he emigrated to the US. He immediately found work in Hollywood and rapidly gained recognition as one of the most gifted composers of American film music. At his most effective with suspenseful and psychological motifs, he scored several of Hitchcock's films. In 1947 he founded the Los Angeles Music Festival, to which he devoted much of his energy over the years. With 285 credits in his filmography (many of them uncredited), some of his most notable non-nominated film scores include his first Hollywood score BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935), FURY (1936), CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS (1937), TEST PILOT and A CHRISTMAS CAROL (both 1938), LADY OF THE TROPICS (1939), BOOM TOWN, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY and FLIGHT COMMAND (all 1940), HONKY TONK and THE BAD MAN (both 1941), WOMAN OF THE YEAR and TORTILLA FLAT (both 1942), AIR FORCE and DESTINATION TOKYO (both 1943), MR. SKEFFINGTON and JANIE (both 1944), GOD IS MY CO-PILOT and PRIDE OF THE MARINES (both 1945), HER KIND OF MAN (1946), THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS, POSSESSED, DARK PASSAG and THE PARADINE CASE (all 1947), SORRY, WRONG NUMBER (1948), TASK FORCE (1949), DARK CITY and THE FURIES (both 1950), DECISION BEFORE DAWN (1951), COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA and MY COUSIN RACHEL (both 1952), STALAG 17 (musical settings) and I, THE JURY (both 1953), PRINCE VALIANT, ELEPHANT WALK and REAR WINDOW (all 1954), THE VIRGIN QUEEN and MISTER ROBERTS (both 1955), THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS, SAYONARA and PEYTON PLACE (all 1957), RUN SILENT RUN DEEP (1958), CAREER (1959), SUNRISE AT CAMPOBELLO and CIMARRON (both 1960), RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE (1961), MY GEISHA (1962) and his last film, LOST COMMAND (1966). Waxman began to compose for series television in the mid-1950s. Some of his TV credits include "Gunsmoke," "The Twentieth Century," "The Twilight Zone," "The Virginian," "The Fugitive," "Kraft Suspense Theatre" and "Peyton Place." His stock music was used in dozens of films.  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Original Score) 1938: THE YOUNG IN HEART  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Best Score) 1938: THE YOUNG IN HEART  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Original Score) 1940: REBECCA  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic Picture) 1941: DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic Picture) 1941: SUSPICION  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1945: OBJECTIVE, BURMA!  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1946: HUMORESQUE  Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1950: SUNSET BLVD.  Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1951: A PLACE IN THE SUN  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1954: THE SILVER CHALICE  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 1959: THE NUN'S STORY  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Music Score substantially original) 1962: TARAS BULBA 12 nominations, 2 Awards