Leo F. Forbstein - Biography

Leo F. 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.

Early years

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Forbstein 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.

Joins Warner Bros.

He soon 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.

Oscars and Oscar Nominations

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.

Personal life

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, Harriet. He was entombed in the Corridor of Immortality at Home of Peace Cemetery.

Film credits

• The Maltese Falcon (1931)
• The Millionaire (1931)
• The Star Witness (1931)
• Union Depot (1932)
• The Man Who Played God (1932)
• The Cabin in the Cotton (1932)
• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
• 42nd Street (1933)
• Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
• The Working Man (1933)
• Ex-Lady (1933)
• Bureau of Missing Persons (1933)
• Fog Over Frisco (1934)
• The Big Shakedown (1934)
• Jimmy the Gent (1934)
• Fashions of 1934 (1934)
• Front Page Woman (1935)
• The Girl from 10th Avenue (1935)
• Special Agent (1935)
• The Golden Arrow (1936)
• It's Love I'm After (1937)
• Jezebel (1938)
• Dark Victory (1939)
• The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
• The Letter (1940) (1940)
• Meet John Doe (1941)
• Sergeant York (1941)
• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• Kings Row (1942)
• Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
• Now, Voyager (1942)
• Casablanca (1942)
• Destination Tokyo (1943)
• Mr. Skeffington (1944)
• To Have and Have Not (1944)
• The Corn Is Green (1945)
• Mildred Pierce (1945)
• The Big Sleep (1946)
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
• Winter Meeting (1948)
• Rope (1948)
• Johnny Belinda (1948)

External links

• (Date of death, Feb 12, 1948, on IMDB is incorrect)
• Leo Forbstein at findagrave.com