Ray Heindorf

1908–1980

Warner Bros.' master of the musical

Ray Heindorf was born in Haverstraw, New York, in 1908. He began his career as a teenager playing piano in movie theaters during the silent era and later worked as a pianist and arranger in New York. When sound arrived he headed west, and by the early 1930s he was working at Warner Bros. He spent nearly his whole career there, rising from arranger and orchestrator to head of the studio's music department in 1948.

Heindorf's special talent was the musical. He arranged and conducted the music for many of Warner's biggest song-and-dance films and was admired for his skill at turning popular songs into full-scale orchestral production numbers. He won the Academy Award for Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), shared with Heinz Roemheld, in which James Cagney played Broadway legend George M. Cohan, dancing to "Give My Regards to Broadway" and "Over There." The following year he won again for This Is the Army (1943), Irving Berlin's wartime revue.

He received his third Oscar for The Music Man (1962), and he earned many more nominations over the years for films such as Calamity Jane, A Star Is Born (1954) and Damn Yankees. As music director he also oversaw the scores of dramas and comedies throughout Warner's output, giving the studio's musicals their polished, brassy sound.

Heindorf remained at Warner Bros. until the late 1960s. He died in 1980, one of the unsung architects of the classic Hollywood musical.

THE ART

Music by Ray Heindorf

Art celebrating his film scores. Click any piece to view it larger.

THE FILMS

The Story and the Score

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Scored with Heinz Roemheld

The Story

Broadway legend George M. Cohan tells his life story to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, from a childhood touring in vaudeville with his family to a career writing patriotic songs and hit shows. James Cagney won the Academy Award for his electrifying performance as Cohan in Michael Curtiz's musical biography.

The Music

Heindorf and Heinz Roemheld won the Oscar for scoring Cohan's songs, including "Give My Regards to Broadway," "You're a Grand Old Flag" and "Over There." Their brassy arrangements match Cagney's stiff-legged dancing and patriotic fervor, and the music made the film a stirring wartime celebration of American optimism.

This Is the Army (1943)

Score adaptation; songs by Irving Berlin

The Story

A World War I veteran who staged an army show in 1918 sees his son enlist in World War II, where the son mounts a new soldier show to boost morale. Much of the cast came from Irving Berlin's touring stage revue of real servicemen. George Murphy, Joan Leslie and Ronald Reagan star in this wartime musical.

The Music

Heindorf won an Academy Award for scoring this patriotic revue. He arranged Irving Berlin's songs for the Warner Bros. orchestra and a huge cast of real soldiers, turning a touring stage show into full-scale production numbers. His polished, brassy arrangements helped make the film one of the biggest hits of the war years.