FS
Frank Skinner
Composer, Additional Credits
Born December 31, 1897Died October 8, 1968 (70 years)
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.
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.
Frank Skinner Filmography
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| 1937 |
| 2001 | Saboteur: A Closer Look · as Composer |
| 1969 | Night Gallery (TV Series) · as Composer |
| 1966 | Madame X · as Original Music Composer |
| 1966 | The Wolfman · as Composer |
| 1965 | Shenandoah · as Original Music Composer |
| 1965 | The Sword of Ali Baba · as Composer |
| 1964 | Bullet for a Badman · as Original Music Composer |
| 1963 | Captain Newman, M.D. · as Original Music Composer |
| 1963 | The Ugly American · as Original Music Composer |
| 1963 | Tammy and the Doctor · as Composer |
| 1961 | Back Street · as Original Music Composer |
| 1960 | Midnight Lace · as Original Music Composer |
| 1960 | The Law and Mr. Jones (TV Series) · as Composer |
| 1960 | Portrait in Black · as Original Music Composer |
| 1959 | Imitation of Life · as Original Music Composer |
| 1958 | The Restless Years · as Original Music Composer |
| 1958 | The Perfect Furlough · as Original Music Composer |
| 1958 | Once Upon a Horse... · as Original Music Composer |
| 1958 | This Happy Feeling · as Original Music Composer |
| 1957 | The Tarnished Angels · as Original Music Composer |
| 1957 | Man of a Thousand Faces · as Original Music Composer |
| 1957 | Interlude · as Original Music Composer |
| 1957 | The Snow Queen · as Composer |
| 1957 | My Man Godfrey · as Original Music Composer |
| 1957 | Wagon Train (TV Series) · as Composer |
| 1957 | Tammy and the Bachelor · as Original Music Composer |
| 1957 | The Tattered Dress · as Original Music Composer |
| 1956 | Gun for a Coward · as Composer |
| 1956 | Written on the Wind · as Original Music Composer |
| 1956 | Away All Boats · as Original Music Composer |
| 1956 | Francis in the Haunted House · as Composer |
| 1956 | Never Say Goodbye · as Original Music Composer |
| 1955 | Lady Godiva of Coventry · as Original Music Composer |
| 1955 | All That Heaven Allows · as Original Music Composer |
| 1955 | One Desire · as Original Music Composer |
| 1955 | Foxfire · as Original Music Composer |
| 1955 | Six Bridges to Cross · as Original Music Composer |
| 1954 | Sign of the Pagan · as Original Music Composer |
| 1954 | Four Guns to the Border · as Composer |
| 1954 | Dawn at Socorro · as Composer |
| 1954 | Naked Alibi · as Composer |
| 1954 | The Black Shield of Falworth · as Original Music Composer |
| 1954 | The Far Country · as Original Music Composer |
| 1954 | Magnificent Obsession · as Original Music Composer |
| 1954 | Francis Joins the WACS · as Composer |
| 1954 | Black Horse Canyon · as Composer |
| 1954 | Playgirl · as Composer |
| 1954 | Saskatchewan · as Original Music Composer |
| 1953 | Forbidden · as Original Music Composer |
| 1953 | The Glass Web · as Composer |
| 1953 | Back to God's Country · as Composer |
| 1953 | Thunder Bay · as Original Music Composer |
| 1953 | Francis Covers the Big Town · as Composer |
| 1953 | The Mississippi Gambler · as Original Music Composer |
| 1952 | Because of You · as Original Music Composer |
| 1952 | Bonzo Goes to College · as Original Music Composer |
| 1952 | It Grows on Trees · as Composer |
| 1952 | Francis Goes to West Point · as Composer |
| 1952 | The Treasure of Lost Canyon · as Composer |
| 1951 | The Raging Tide · as Original Music Composer |
| 1951 | The Lady Pays Off · as Composer |
| 1951 | Bright Victory · as Original Music Composer |
| 1951 | Double Crossbones · as Composer |
| 1951 | Hollywood Story · as Original Music Composer |
| 1951 | The Fat Man · as Composer |
| 1951 | Bedtime for Bonzo · as Original Music Composer |
| 1950 | The Sleeping City · as Music Director |
| 1950 | The Desert Hawk · as Original Music Composer |
| 1950 | Peggy · as Composer |
| 1950 | One Way Street · as Original Music Composer |
| 1949 | Bagdad · as Original Music Composer |
| 1949 | Sword in the Desert · as Original Music Composer |
| 1949 | The Lady Gambles · as Original Music Composer |
| 1949 | |
| 1949 | The Life of Riley · as Composer |
| 1949 | The Fighting O'Flynn · as Composer |
| 1948 | Family Honeymoon · as Original Music Composer |
| 1948 | Tap Roots · as Original Music Composer |
| 1948 | Black Bart · as Composer |
| 1948 | For the Love of Mary · as Original Music Composer |
| 1948 | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein · as Original Music Composer |
| 1948 | The Naked City · as Original Music Composer |
| 1947 | The Exile · as Original Music Composer |
| 1947 | Ride the Pink Horse · as Original Music Composer |
| 1947 | The Vigilantes Return · as Composer |
| 1947 | The Egg and I · as Original Music Composer |
| 1947 | Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman · as Original Music Composer |
| 1946 | Swell Guy · as Composer |
| 1946 | Black Angel · as Original Music Composer |
| 1946 | Canyon Passage · as Music Director |
| 1946 | Inside Job · as Composer |
| 1946 | The Runaround · as Composer |
| 1946 | Night in Paradise · as Composer |
| 1945 | Frontier Gal · as Original Music Composer |
| 1945 | The Daltons Ride Again · as Composer |
| 1945 | Secret Agent X-9 · as Original Music Composer |
| 1945 | She Gets Her Man · as Composer |
| 1944 | The Suspect · as Music Director |
| 1944 | Destiny · as Original Music Composer |
| 1944 | This Is the Life · as Composer |
| 1944 | Follow the Boys · as Composer |
| 1944 | Hat Check Honey · as Composer |
| 1943 | 'Gung Ho!': The Story of Carlson's Makin Island Raiders · as Original Music Composer |
| 1943 | Son of Dracula · as Composer |
| 1943 | Crazy House · as Orchestrator |
| 1943 | Top Man · as Composer |
| 1943 | We've Never Been Licked · as Original Music Composer |
| 1943 | Two Tickets to London · as Composer |
| 1943 | It Comes Up Love · as Composer |
| 1943 | Keep 'Em Slugging · as Original Music Composer |
| 1943 | The Amazing Mrs. Holliday · as Original Music Composer |
| 1942 | Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon · as Original Music Composer |
| 1942 | Arabian Nights · as Original Music Composer |
| 1942 | Broadway · as Original Music Composer |
| 1942 | Eyes of the Underworld · as Original Music Composer |
| 1942 | Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror · as Original Music Composer |
| 1942 | Pardon My Sarong · as Composer |
| 1942 | There's One Born Every Minute · as Original Music Composer |
| 1942 | Lady in a Jam · as Original Music Composer |
| 1942 | Tough As They Come · as Original Music Composer |
| 1942 | Saboteur · as Original Music Composer |
| 1942 | The Strange Case of Doctor Rx · as Composer |
| 1942 | Butch Minds the Baby · as Composer |
| 1942 | Ride 'Em Cowboy · as Original Music Composer |
| 1942 | North to the Klondike · as Composer |
| 1941 | Hellzapoppin' · as Original Music Composer |
| 1941 | Keep 'Em Flying · as Original Music Composer |
| 1941 | Moonlight in Hawaii · as Orchestrator |
| 1941 | South of Tahiti · as Composer |
| 1941 | Never Give a Sucker an Even Break · as Original Music Composer |
| 1941 | Mob Town · as Composer |
| 1941 | Riders of Death Valley · as Original Music Composer |
| 1941 | In the Navy · as Composer |
| 1941 | The Lady from Cheyenne · as Composer |
| 1941 | Back Street · as Original Music Composer |
| 1940 | The Invisible Woman · as Original Music Composer |
| 1940 | The Bank Dick · as Composer |
| 1940 | One Night in the Tropics · as Orchestrator |
| 1940 | Sandy Gets Her Man · as Composer |
| 1940 | Seven Sinners · as Original Music Composer |
| 1940 | Hired Wife · as Music Score Producer |
| 1940 | Argentine Nights · as Composer |
| 1940 | When the Daltons Rode · as Original Music Composer |
| 1940 | The Boys from Syracuse · as Composer |
| 1940 | South to Karanga · as Music Score Producer |
| 1940 | Black Diamonds · as Composer |
| 1940 | Ski Patrol · as Composer |
| 1940 | Black Friday · as Original Music Composer |
| 1940 | It's a Date · as Songs |
| 1940 | My Little Chickadee · as Music Score Producer |
| 1940 | Double Alibi · as Composer |
| 1940 | Green Hell · as Original Music Composer |
| 1940 | The Invisible Man Returns · as Original Music Composer |
| 1939 | Destry Rides Again · as Original Music Composer |
| 1939 | Charlie McCarthy, Detective · as Original Music Composer |
| 1939 | Tower of London · as Original Music Composer |
| 1939 | Rio · as Composer |
| 1939 | The Witness Vanishes · as Original Music Composer |
| 1939 | The Under-Pup · as Composer |
| 1939 | When Tomorrow Comes · as Composer |
| 1939 | I Stole a Million · as Composer |
| 1939 | The Sun Never Sets · as Original Music Composer |
| 1939 | Code of the Streets · as Composer |
| 1939 | East Side of Heaven · as Composer |
| 1939 | You Can't Cheat an Honest Man · as Composer |
| 1939 | Son of Frankenstein · as Orchestrator |
| 1938 | Exposed · as Composer |
| 1938 | Little Tough Guys in Society · as Composer |
| 1938 | Youth Takes a Fling · as Composer |
| 1938 | Letter of Introduction · as Composer |
| 1938 | Little Tough Guy · as Composer |
| 1938 | The Rage of Paris · as Original Music Composer |
| 1938 | Wives Under Suspicion · as Original Music Composer |
| 1937 | Top of the Town · as Composer |