Max Steiner

Bio

Max Steiner (1888–1971) was an Austrian-born composer who became one of Hollywood’s most influential film-music pioneers. After early training in Vienna and a brief career on Broadway, he moved to California in 1929 and quickly established himself at RKO and later Warner Bros. Steiner is credited with developing the classic symphonic film-score style, writing leitmotifs and lush orchestral cues that underscored dramatic action and emotion. Among his best-known scores are those for King Kong (1933), Gone with the Wind (1939), Casablanca (1942), and The Searchers (1956). Over a four-decade career he received twenty-six Academy Award nominations and won three Oscars, shaping the sound of American cinema and influencing generations of film composers.