He was born in
Brooklyn, New York City, United States, in 1913 In 1931, he met
Aaron Copland and joined his Young Composers Group, whose members also included Herrmann. Copland supported his work and Herrmann provided him an introduction to the entertainment media, beginning with the composition of music cues for radio shows in 1935. In the 1940s he began to work in Hollywood, California, where he would compose the music scores for sixteen films from 1948 to 1969. In 1956 he composed the score for the
World War II drama
The Sharkfighters, His best-known film score is that for the 1958 movie
The Big Country, for which he was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Original Score. He was buried in Mount Ararat Cemetery in
East Farmingdale, New York, next to Hazel. ==Theatre works==