Early life Born and raised in
St. Louis, Stein learned how to play piano from his mother Ceclia, a pianist for silent film theaters. From 1938 to 1947, he was privately tutored at Leo C. Miller's Institute of Music, and then studied at
Washington University from 1947 to 1951, and also worked as the assistant conductor for the
St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre. Stein attended
Yale University in 1951, but was drafted into the United States Army Special Services, serving at
Fort Dix, New Jersey from 1952 to 1954. When he returned home, Stein became a solo pianist at
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Career In 1955, Stein composed his first film score,
Apache Woman. After this, he signed a 5-year contract with
American International Pictures, with whom he composed 55 scores. Stein wrote scores for many low-budget
horror and
exploitation films during the 1950s and 1960s, most of which were released by
American International Pictures. These included
It Conquered the World,
Attack of the Crab Monsters,
Invasion of the Saucer Men,
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman,
Hot Rod Gang,
The Premature Burial and
The Haunted Palace. He also provided scores for major studio productions such as
Francis Ford Coppola's
The Rain People, and
Richard Rush's
Getting Straight. In 1973, Stein turned from composing to supervising post-production for Paragon Films, which he continued until 1978. Additionally, Stein taught composition at
California State University, Northridge, and from 1980 to 1985, he worked as a professor of composition, arranging, orchestration, and theory at the
University of Colorado Denver. After this, Stein returned to Los Angeles, where he continued to work as a post-production supervisor for several films.
Personal life and death Stein married Harlene Hiken after graduating from Washington University in 1951, and together they had four children. Stein's youngest child Victor Warren works as an actor, writer, director, and producer, with his own production company Glydascope Inc., in Los Angeles. On August 15, 1988, Stein died from
pancreatic cancer in
Mission Hills, California, at the age of 58. ==Legacy==