Herschel Burke Gilbert

Herschel Burke Gilbert April 20 1918 – June 8 2003 Was A Prolific Orchestrator Musical Supervisor And Composer Of Film Scores As Well As Television Scores And Theme Songs Including The Themes For The Rifleman Starring Chuck Connors Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater And The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor. Gilbert Once Estimated That His Compositions Had Been Used In At Least 3 000 Individual Episodes Of Various Television Series. Early Years And Education
Gilbert Was Born In Milwaukee Wisconsin. At The Age Of Nine He Began Studying The Violin In Shorewood In Milwaukee County. By The Time He Was 15 He Had Formed His Own Dance Band. He Attended Milwaukee State Teachers College Now University Of Wisconsin–Milwaukee And Studied For Four Years Two As An Undergraduate And Two As A Graduate From 1939–1943 At The Juilliard School Of Music In New York City. After Juilliard Gilbert Won A Music Scholarship To The Berkshire Music Festival In Massachusetts Where He Studied Under Aaron Copland And Leonard Bernstein. Film Scores
After A Two-Year Stint With The Harry James Band As Both Viola Player And Arranger He Moved To Hollywood. He Found Work Arranging And Orchestrating For Dimitri Tiomkin On Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life And King Vidor's Duel In The Sun Both 1946 . He Composed The Scores For Some Three Dozen Films Throughout The 1940s 1950s And 1960s Including The Jackie Robinson Story 1950 Comanche 1956 Slaughter On Tenth Avenue 1957 And Sam Whiskey 1969 . Gilbert Was Nominated For Three Academy Awards In Three Consecutive Years Best Music Scoring For A Dramatic Or Comedy Picture For The Thief In 1953 Best Music Original Song For Title Song From The Movie The Moon Is Blue With Lyrics By Sylvia Fine In 1954 And Best Music Scoring Of A Musical Picture For Carmen Jones 1954 . He Did Not Win In Any Of These Categories However. The Thief A Film Noir Spy Thriller Starring Ray Milland Relied Heavily On Gilbert's Music Because The Picture Lacked Dialogue. Both "The Moon Is Blue" And "Carmen Jones" Were Directed By Otto Preminger. Gilbert Assigned Opera Star Marilyn Horne Her First Professional Job As The Singing Voice Of Carmen Lip-Synched By Dorothy Dandridge In The Film Gilbert Was President Of The Film Music Society Also Known As The Society For The Preservation Of Film Music From 1989–1992. He Also Served On The Society's Board Until His Death. In 1998 Gilbert Was Presented The Organization's "Film Music Preservation Award". Four Star Television
As Music Director For Dick Powell's Four Star Television Gilbert Also Wrote Themes For The Dick Powell Show The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor The Westerner Starring Brian Keith And The DuPont Show Starring Powell's Wife June Allyson . At Four Star Gilbert Supervised The Music Of An Estimated 1 500 Television Programs Over A Six-Year Period. Two Of His The Dick Powell Show Scores Were Nominated For Music Emmy Awards. He Also Composed Music For The Rogues And The Gertrude Berg Show As Well As The Loretta Young Show On NBC. He Produced A Popular LP Entitled Dick Powell Presents Themes From Four Star Television One Of The First Television Soundtrack Albums To Feature The Actual Music Heard Weekly On Various Series. One Of His Last Assignments At Four Star Resulted In Another Memorable Television Theme Burke's Law 1963–1966 With Its Breathy Female Voice And Jazzy Brass Opening For The Rolls Royce-Chauffeured Police Detective Amos Burke. Ironically "Burke" Was Also Gilbert's Middle Name. Gilbert Worked As Music Supervisor On Gilligan's Island Rawhide Perry Mason And Gunsmoke All Of Which Aired On CBS. Burke Travelled To Oklahoma City In 1964 To Receive The National Cowboy Hall Of Fame's "Western Heritage Award" For His Work On "Damon's Road" A Two-Part Episode Of Rawhide. While In Europe In The Early 1950s Gilbert Composed Music Libraries. Many Of These Works Were Used As Underscore For Several Classic Television Programs Including The Adventures Of Superman M Squad Starring Lee Marvin Topper Sky King And Ramar Of The Jungle. His Association With Producers Arthur Gardner Jules Levy And Arnold Laven Led To His Music For The Rifleman Which Ran On ABC From 1958–1963. In Addition To Composing The Famous Theme He Wrote A Library Of Dramatic Music For The Series Which Was Recorded In Munich Germany. Gilbert Retired From Television Work In 1966 To Form Laurel Records Which Eventually Produced More Than 60 LPs And Nearly 30 CDs Mostly Of Contemporary American Chamber Music. Laurel Became One Of The Nation's Premier Classical Labels Acclaimed For Its Outstanding Engineering read less