Leo F. Forbstein

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Leo Frank Forbstein (October 16, 1892 – March 16, 1948) was an American film musical director and orchestra conductor who worked on more than 550 projects during a twenty-year period. Forbstein was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He was attracted to music as a child, learning the violin at the age of four. As a conductor at the Royal Theater in St. Joseph, he synchronized the orchestra with the action in silent films; he then became principal conductor at the Newman Theatre in Kansas City, where the organist was future Warner Bros. colleague Carl W. Stalling. In the mid-1920s, Forbstein relocated to Hollywood to head the symphony orchestra at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre. He signed with Warner Bros. as one of the directors of its Vitaphone Orchestra, alongside Erno Rapee (then Warners' general music director), Louis Silvers, and David Mendoza; Forbstein's first screen credit was The Squall in 1929. In 1931, Warners dismissed Rapee and Mendoza in a consolidation and economy move and Forbstein became the company's general music director. In 1936, Forbstein and composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold were write-in candidates for the Oscar for Best Music, Score for their work on Captain Blood. The following year, he was nominated officially for The Charge of the Light Brigade and Anthony Adverse, winning for the latter. He was nominated again for The Life of Emile Zola in 1938. Forbstein was married to the former Bess Gallas from October 16, 1914 until his death from a heart attack in Los Angeles, California. They had one daughter, Harriett (born 1915), who married assistant director Melvin Dellar. Leo Forbstein was entombed in the Corridor of Immortality at Home of Peace Cemetery.

Cast

Broadway Gondolier

Rehearsal Orchestra Leader

Crew

The Male Animal

She Had to Say Yes

The Dragon Murder Case

Thank Your Lucky Stars

Northern Pursuit

The Great Garrick

Here Comes the Navy

Employees' Entrance

Sing Me a Love Song

Princess O'Rourke

The Life of Emile Zola

Indianapolis Speedway

A Night at the Ritz

The Prince and the Pauper

A Slight Case of Murder

Traveling Saleslady

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

While the Patient Slept

Edge of Darkness

Angels Wash Their Faces

Never Say Goodbye

You Can't Get Away with Murder

Uncertain Glory

Captains of the Clouds

Kisses for Breakfast

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Private Detective 62

I Found Stella Parish

Give Me Your Heart

Street of Women

The Case of the Howling Dog

The Strawberry Blonde

The Case of the Lucky Legs

Heart of the North

Journal of a Crime

The Two Mrs. Carrolls

God's Country and the Woman

Gold Dust Gertie

Back in Circulation

The Strange Love of Molly Louvain

The Mask of Dimitrios

We're in the Money

Espionage Agent

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Secrets of an Actress

Always in My Heart

The Maltese Falcon

It's Love I'm After

Comet Over Broadway

The Man Who Played God

Original Music Composer

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Living on Velvet

One Way Passage

The House on 56th Street

Original Music Composer

Men Are Such Fools

I Loved a Woman

Women in the Wind

Destination Tokyo

Arsenic and Old Lace

Original Music Composer

Hollywood Hotel

Gold Diggers of 1937

Miss Pacific Fleet

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

Original Music Composer

Earthworm Tractors

Original Music Composer

The Man with Two Faces

Angels with Dirty Faces

King of the Underworld

The Star Witness

Torchy Gets Her Man

The Dawn Patrol

It All Came True

The Irish in Us

Wings for the Eagle

Don't Bet on Blondes

She Couldn't Say No

To Have and Have Not

The Man from Monterey

Mr. Skeffington

Too Young to Marry

Blondie Johnson

Fashions of 1934

Two Guys from Texas

Original Music Composer

You Said a Mouthful

Big Hearted Herbert

Happiness Ahead

Love Is a Racket

The Woman from Monte Carlo

Murder in the Clouds

Ready, Willing and Able

Honeymoon for Three

Nine Lives Are Not Enough

Steel Against the Sky

The Florentine Dagger

The Flirting Widow

The Unsuspected

The Murder of Dr. Harrigan

The Great Mr. Nobody

Shipmates Forever

The King's Vacation

Valley of the Giants

Winner Take All

Wings of the Navy

Cinderella Jones

The White Angel

Escape Me Never

The Petrified Forest

The Story of Louis Pasteur

The Case of the Curious Bride

Big Business Girl

The Silk Express

They Call It Sin

The Mind Reader

The Secret Bride

The Beast with Five Fingers

Gold Diggers of 1933

The Rich Are Always with Us

Beauty and the Boss

The Purchase Price

Kansas City Princess

Broadway Gondolier

The Narrow Corner

King of the Islands

A Fugitive from Justice

Oklahoma Outlaws

Three Strangers

The Constant Nymph

The Last Flight

The Doorway to Hell

Flight from Destiny

Make Your Own Bed

Stranger in Town

One Night at Susie's

The Kennel Murder Case

Shadow of a Woman

George Washington Slept Here

The Dawn Patrol

Satan Met a Lady

They Drive by Night

Three on a Match

The Corn Is Green

The Man Who Came to Dinner

Go Into Your Dance

Fog Over Frisco

Romance on the High Seas

The Charge of the Light Brigade

The Singing Kid

The Wagons Roll at Night

Footsteps in the Dark

Mystery of the Wax Museum

Footlight Parade

Affectionately Yours

The Goose and the Gander

Maybe It's Love

Dust Be My Destiny

Pride of the Marines

Daughters Courageous

Castle on the Hudson

Broadway Babies

Knute Rockne All American

Ladies They Talk About

Road to Paradise

Christmas in Connecticut

Invisible Stripes

Each Dawn I Die

The Oklahoma Kid

Wild Boys of the Road

The White Cockatoo

The Road to Singapore

That Certain Woman

We Are Not Alone

Twenty Million Sweethearts