Sound
Frank Skinner
EN cinema · 216 credits
Born
31 December 1897
Died
8 October 1968 (aged 70)
Birthplace
Meredosia, Illinois, USA
Frank Skinner (December 31, 1897 – October 9, 1968) was an American film composer and arranger. Skinner was born in Meredosia, Illinois. A graduate of the Chicago Musical College (now known as the Chicago Conservatory of Music), 16-year-old Frank found employment in vaudeville and began playing in local areas with his brother Carl Skinner of Meredosia Illinois on drums. They were billed as the Skinner Brothers dance band. From there they began playing on the steamboats that went up and down the Illinois River. It was during this time that he began writing and arranging music for dance bands. This work brought him to New York, where from 1925 to 1935 he arranged about 2000 popular songs for Robbins Publishing. By the time he left Manhattan for Hollywood, he had written two books on arranging for dance bands. After a short period at MGM, working on musical settings for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Skinner was hired by Universal Studios. Over the course of his 30 years there, he composed music for more than 200 films. Although he continued to work on musicals, he quickly mastered the art of dramatic scores, eventually earning five Academy Award nominations (1938–43). He died in Beverly Hills, California, leaving behind his wife Dolly Repine Skinner. His distinctive approach to scoring horror films, such as Son of Frankenstein (1939) and The Wolf Man (1941), has been characterized as a ‘passion for chromatic lines … mirrored contours … [and] restrained, yet ominously mythical orchestrations’ (Marcello). He gained new recognition in the 1950s for his lush romantic scores, including those for such Douglas Sirk films as Magnificent Obsession (1954) and Written on the Wind (1956). Despite many changes in the film industry, his book Underscore (1950) has survived as an excellent introduction to film music composition. In 2014, Dallas pre-swing orchestra, The Singapore Slingers released a fifteen-track CD homage to Skinner's arrangements.
Known for
Filmography
The Ride to Hangman's Tree
Music, Original Music Composer
Madame X
Original Music Composer
Shenandoah
Original Music Composer
Bullet for a Badman
Original Music Composer
Kitten with a Whip
Additional Music
Captain Newman, M.D.
Original Music Composer
The Ugly American
Original Music Composer
Back Street
Original Music Composer
Midnight Lace
Original Music Composer
Portrait in Black
Original Music Composer
Imitation of Life
Original Music Composer
The Restless Years
Original Music Composer
This Happy Feeling
Original Music Composer
The Perfect Furlough
Original Music Composer
Once Upon a Horse...
Original Music Composer
Ride a Crooked Trail
Additional Music
The Tattered Dress
Original Music Composer
Tammy and the Bachelor
Original Music Composer
My Man Godfrey
Original Music Composer
The Tarnished Angels
Original Music Composer
Interlude
Original Music Composer
Man of a Thousand Faces
Original Music Composer
Never Say Goodbye
Original Music Composer
Away All Boats
Original Music Composer
Written on the Wind
Original Music Composer
Lady Godiva of Coventry
Original Music Composer
Six Bridges to Cross
Original Music Composer
Foxfire
Original Music Composer
All That Heaven Allows
Original Music Composer
One Desire
Original Music Composer
The Black Shield of Falworth
Original Music Composer
The Far Country
Original Music Composer
Magnificent Obsession
Original Music Composer
Sign of the Pagan
Original Music Composer
Destry
Music
Thunder Bay
Original Music Composer
Forbidden
Original Music Composer
The Mississippi Gambler
Original Music Composer
Because of You
Original Music Composer
Bonzo Goes to College
Original Music Composer
Horizons West
Additional Music
Bend of the River
Additional Music
The Duel at Silver Creek
Additional Music
The Raging Tide
Original Music Composer
Bright Victory
Original Music Composer
Iron Man
Music
Bedtime for Bonzo
Original Music Composer
Hollywood Story
Original Music Composer
Francis
Music
Louisa
Music
Harvey
Music
Spy Hunt
Music
The Sleeping City
Music Director, Original Music Composer
The Desert Hawk
Original Music Composer
One Way Street
Original Music Composer
The Lady Gambles
Original Music Composer
Tulsa
Original Music Composer
Red, Hot and Blue
Additional Music
Bagdad
Original Music Composer
Sword in the Desert
Original Music Composer
The Naked City
Original Music Composer
Family Honeymoon
Original Music Composer
For the Love of Mary
Original Music Composer
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein
Original Music Composer
Hazard
Music
Tap Roots
Original Music Composer
Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman
Original Music Composer
The Egg and I
Original Music Composer
Ride the Pink Horse
Original Music Composer
The Exile
Original Music Composer
Black Angel
Original Music Composer
Canyon Passage
Music Director, Original Music Composer
Girl on the Spot
Original Music Composer
The Suspect
Music Director, Original Music Composer
Secret Agent X-9
Original Music Composer
Frontier Gal
Original Music Composer
Blonde Ransom
1945
Blonde Ransom
Original Music Composer
Destiny
Original Music Composer
Phantom Lady
Additional Music
Reckless Age
Original Music Composer
South of Dixie
Original Music Composer
Hi, Beautiful
Original Music Composer
Follow the Boys
Original Music Composer
This Is the Life
Orchestrator
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
Original Music Composer
Crazy House
Orchestrator
Keep 'Em Slugging
Original Music Composer
Fired Wife
Original Music Composer
All by Myself
Original Music Composer
Gung Ho!
Original Music Composer
We've Never Been Licked
Original Music Composer
Top Man
Original Music Composer
Saboteur
Original Music Composer
Ride 'Em Cowboy
Original Music Composer
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon
Original Music Composer
Tough as They Come
Original Music Composer
Arabian Nights
Original Music Composer
There's One Born Every Minute
Original Music Composer
Mug Town
Original Music Composer
Eyes of the Underworld
Original Music Composer
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror
Original Music Composer
Lady in a Jam
Original Music Composer
Broadway
Original Music Composer
Nice Girl?
Music, Orchestrator
Hellzapoppin'
Original Music Composer
Riders of Death Valley
Original Music Composer
Keep 'Em Flying
Original Music Composer
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Original Music Composer
Back Street
Original Music Composer
The Wolf Man
Original Music Composer
The Invisible Man Returns
Original Music Composer
Seven Sinners
Original Music Composer
When the Daltons Rode
Original Music Composer
The Invisible Woman
Original Music Composer
Black Friday
Original Music Composer
La Conga Nights
Original Music Composer
Hired Wife
Music Score Producer
Green Hell
Original Music Composer
One Night in the Tropics
Music, Orchestrator
South to Karanga
Music Score Producer
My Little Chickadee
Music Score Producer
Tower of London
Original Music Composer, Orchestrator
Destry Rides Again
Original Music Composer
Son of Frankenstein
Orchestrator, Original Music Composer
The Witness Vanishes
Original Music Composer
Charlie McCarthy, Detective
Original Music Composer
The Sun Never Sets
Original Music Composer
Ex-Champ
Original Music Composer
Wives Under Suspicion
Original Music Composer
The Rage of Paris
Original Music Composer
