Composer, arranger, conductor. Scharf worked on the musical scores for more than 250 films and TV series, including "White Christmas," "Funny Girl," "Mission: Impossible" and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." During his 50-year career, he worked with performers from George Gershwin, Al Jolson and Rudy Vallee, to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, to Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and Michael Jackson.
He was nominated once for a Grammy, once for a Golden Globe (and won), twice for an Emmy (winning once), and 10 times for an Oscar, including two nominations in 1944 and 1945.
Born in New York City, Scharf was the son of Yiddish theater comic Bessie Zwerling. While in his 20s, he was one of the orchestrators for Gershwin's Broadway musical "Girl Crazy," became singer Helen Morgan's accompanist, and later worked as pianist and arranger for singer Rudy Vallee.
He began working in Hollywood in 1933, arranging for Al Jolson at Warner Bros., Alice Faye at 20th Century-Fox and Bing Crosby at Paramount. He orchestrated the original version of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" for the film "Holiday Inn" (1942), and from 1942 to 1946 he served as head of music for Republic Pictures.
Through the 1930s, he wrote incidental music for more than a dozen films, although he did not receive screen credit for most of them. He was nominated for his first Oscar for the score of "Mercy Island," a 1942 melodrama set in the Florida Keys. Over the next 30 years, he was nominated for his work on "Hans Christian Andersen" in 1953, "Funny Girl" in 1968, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" in 1972, and "Ben" in 1973, but he never won an Academy Award.
Scharf did win an Emmy for his work on a National Geographic television special and a Golden Globe for "Ben," whose chart-topping theme song helped launch singer Michael Jackson's solo career. Scharf and Don Black shared a credit for composing the song.
In his more than 40 years in Hollywood, Scharf worked with some of the most popular screen stars. His favorite project was "Hans Christian Andersen," partly because he and actor Danny Kaye, who played the lead, talked about scenes and ideas over rounds of golf.
Scharf worked on five movies with Elvis Presley, starting in 1957 with "Loving You." "I didn't want to do those movies," Scharf said in 1992. But, he added, "the royalties were marvelous." One of his strongest memories of Presley was the way he always referred to him as "Mr. Scharf." Scharf also worked for nearly two years with Barbra Streisand on "Funny Girl."
In the early 1960s, Scharf was approached by Harold Lloyd to provide new scores for his silent film compilations. Lloyd regarded Scharf's ability to mix comedy themes with big, dramatic orchestral touches as ideal for his brand of "thrill" comedy. Scharf implemented a similar style for the Jerry Lewis Jekyll and Hyde-inspired comedy "The Nutty Professor" (1963), working on more than a dozen Lewis comedies overall.
Scharf composed music for dozens of 1960s television dramas including "Ben Casey," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "Mission: Impossible," although he became best known for his music for the National Geographic Society and "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" documentaries, which he scored between 1965 and 1975. He won an Emmy in 1971 for "The Tragedy of the Red Salmon." He also composed an original symphonic work, "The Legend of the Living Sea," for a Cousteau museum exhibit aboard the RMS Queen Mary in 1971.
Scharf's initial work for the concert hall was "The Palestine Suite," written in 1945 and performed at the Hollywood Bowl under Leopold Stokowski. After retiring from films and TV in the 1980s, he returned to concert writing, notably with "The Tree Still Stands: A Symphonic Portrait of the Stages of a Hebraic Man," commissioned by the Stephen S. Wise Temple and first performed in 1989, and the 1993 "The Israeli Suite."
Scharf wrote an unproduced opera based on Norman Corwin's "The Plot to Overthrow Christmas" and received the Golden Score Award from the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers in 1997.
Classical compositions were his antidote to the frustrations of the movie and television industry, he said. "I feel like I'm being squeezed through a revolving door," Scharf said after completing nearly two hours of music for the eight-part miniseries "Blind Ambition," about the political career of White House counselor John Dean during the Nixon administration. The series aired in 1979.
What made the work exhausting? "My job is to keep you glued to the screen," Scharf said. "I'm constantly providing little hooks to keep people interested."
Scharf died at his home in Brentwood, Calif., of heart failure at the age of 92.
He was nominated once for a Grammy, once for a Golden Globe (and won), twice for an Emmy (winning once), and 10 times for an Oscar, including two nominations in 1944 and 1945.
Born in New York City, Scharf was the son of Yiddish theater comic Bessie Zwerling. While in his 20s, he was one of the orchestrators for Gershwin's Broadway musical "Girl Crazy," became singer Helen Morgan's accompanist, and later worked as pianist and arranger for singer Rudy Vallee.
He began working in Hollywood in 1933, arranging for Al Jolson at Warner Bros., Alice Faye at 20th Century-Fox and Bing Crosby at Paramount. He orchestrated the original version of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" for the film "Holiday Inn" (1942), and from 1942 to 1946 he served as head of music for Republic Pictures.
Through the 1930s, he wrote incidental music for more than a dozen films, although he did not receive screen credit for most of them. He was nominated for his first Oscar for the score of "Mercy Island," a 1942 melodrama set in the Florida Keys. Over the next 30 years, he was nominated for his work on "Hans Christian Andersen" in 1953, "Funny Girl" in 1968, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" in 1972, and "Ben" in 1973, but he never won an Academy Award.
Scharf did win an Emmy for his work on a National Geographic television special and a Golden Globe for "Ben," whose chart-topping theme song helped launch singer Michael Jackson's solo career. Scharf and Don Black shared a credit for composing the song.
In his more than 40 years in Hollywood, Scharf worked with some of the most popular screen stars. His favorite project was "Hans Christian Andersen," partly because he and actor Danny Kaye, who played the lead, talked about scenes and ideas over rounds of golf.
Scharf worked on five movies with Elvis Presley, starting in 1957 with "Loving You." "I didn't want to do those movies," Scharf said in 1992. But, he added, "the royalties were marvelous." One of his strongest memories of Presley was the way he always referred to him as "Mr. Scharf." Scharf also worked for nearly two years with Barbra Streisand on "Funny Girl."
In the early 1960s, Scharf was approached by Harold Lloyd to provide new scores for his silent film compilations. Lloyd regarded Scharf's ability to mix comedy themes with big, dramatic orchestral touches as ideal for his brand of "thrill" comedy. Scharf implemented a similar style for the Jerry Lewis Jekyll and Hyde-inspired comedy "The Nutty Professor" (1963), working on more than a dozen Lewis comedies overall.
Scharf composed music for dozens of 1960s television dramas including "Ben Casey," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "Mission: Impossible," although he became best known for his music for the National Geographic Society and "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" documentaries, which he scored between 1965 and 1975. He won an Emmy in 1971 for "The Tragedy of the Red Salmon." He also composed an original symphonic work, "The Legend of the Living Sea," for a Cousteau museum exhibit aboard the RMS Queen Mary in 1971.
Scharf's initial work for the concert hall was "The Palestine Suite," written in 1945 and performed at the Hollywood Bowl under Leopold Stokowski. After retiring from films and TV in the 1980s, he returned to concert writing, notably with "The Tree Still Stands: A Symphonic Portrait of the Stages of a Hebraic Man," commissioned by the Stephen S. Wise Temple and first performed in 1989, and the 1993 "The Israeli Suite."
Scharf wrote an unproduced opera based on Norman Corwin's "The Plot to Overthrow Christmas" and received the Golden Score Award from the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers in 1997.
Classical compositions were his antidote to the frustrations of the movie and television industry, he said. "I feel like I'm being squeezed through a revolving door," Scharf said after completing nearly two hours of music for the eight-part miniseries "Blind Ambition," about the political career of White House counselor John Dean during the Nixon administration. The series aired in 1979.
What made the work exhausting? "My job is to keep you glued to the screen," Scharf said. "I'm constantly providing little hooks to keep people interested."
Scharf died at his home in Brentwood, Calif., of heart failure at the age of 92.
Composer, arranger, conductor. Scharf worked on the musical scores for more than 250 films and TV series, including "White Christmas," "Funny Girl," "Mission: Impossible" and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." During his 50-year career, he worked with performers from George Gershwin, Al Jolson and Rudy Vallee, to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, to Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and Michael Jackson.
He was nominated once for a Grammy, once for a Golden Globe (and won), twice for an Emmy (winning once), and 10 times for an Oscar, including two nominations in 1944 and 1945.
Born in New York City, Scharf was the son of Yiddish theater comic Bessie Zwerling. While in his 20s, he was one of the orchestrators for Gershwin's Broadway musical "Girl Crazy," became singer Helen Morgan's accompanist, and later worked as pianist and arranger for singer Rudy Vallee.
He began working in Hollywood in 1933, arranging for Al Jolson at Warner Bros., Alice Faye at 20th Century-Fox and Bing Crosby at Paramount. He orchestrated the original version of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" for the film "Holiday Inn" (1942), and from 1942 to 1946 he served as head of music for Republic Pictures.
Through the 1930s, he wrote incidental music for more than a dozen films, although he did not receive screen credit for most of them. He was nominated for his first Oscar for the score of "Mercy Island," a 1942 melodrama set in the Florida Keys. Over the next 30 years, he was nominated for his work on "Hans Christian Andersen" in 1953, "Funny Girl" in 1968, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" in 1972, and "Ben" in 1973, but he never won an Academy Award.
Scharf did win an Emmy for his work on a National Geographic television special and a Golden Globe for "Ben," whose chart-topping theme song helped launch singer Michael Jackson's solo career. Scharf and Don Black shared a credit for composing the song.
In his more than 40 years in Hollywood, Scharf worked with some of the most popular screen stars. His favorite project was "Hans Christian Andersen," partly because he and actor Danny Kaye, who played the lead, talked about scenes and ideas over rounds of golf.
Scharf worked on five movies with Elvis Presley, starting in 1957 with "Loving You." "I didn't want to do those movies," Scharf said in 1992. But, he added, "the royalties were marvelous." One of his strongest memories of Presley was the way he always referred to him as "Mr. Scharf." Scharf also worked for nearly two years with Barbra Streisand on "Funny Girl."
In the early 1960s, Scharf was approached by Harold Lloyd to provide new scores for his silent film compilations. Lloyd regarded Scharf's ability to mix comedy themes with big, dramatic orchestral touches as ideal for his brand of "thrill" comedy. Scharf implemented a similar style for the Jerry Lewis Jekyll and Hyde-inspired comedy "The Nutty Professor" (1963), working on more than a dozen Lewis comedies overall.
Scharf composed music for dozens of 1960s television dramas including "Ben Casey," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "Mission: Impossible," although he became best known for his music for the National Geographic Society and "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" documentaries, which he scored between 1965 and 1975. He won an Emmy in 1971 for "The Tragedy of the Red Salmon." He also composed an original symphonic work, "The Legend of the Living Sea," for a Cousteau museum exhibit aboard the RMS Queen Mary in 1971.
Scharf's initial work for the concert hall was "The Palestine Suite," written in 1945 and performed at the Hollywood Bowl under Leopold Stokowski. After retiring from films and TV in the 1980s, he returned to concert writing, notably with "The Tree Still Stands: A Symphonic Portrait of the Stages of a Hebraic Man," commissioned by the Stephen S. Wise Temple and first performed in 1989, and the 1993 "The Israeli Suite."
Scharf wrote an unproduced opera based on Norman Corwin's "The Plot to Overthrow Christmas" and received the Golden Score Award from the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers in 1997.
Classical compositions were his antidote to the frustrations of the movie and television industry, he said. "I feel like I'm being squeezed through a revolving door," Scharf said after completing nearly two hours of music for the eight-part miniseries "Blind Ambition," about the political career of White House counselor John Dean during the Nixon administration. The series aired in 1979.
What made the work exhausting? "My job is to keep you glued to the screen," Scharf said. "I'm constantly providing little hooks to keep people interested."
Scharf died at his home in Brentwood, Calif., of heart failure at the age of 92.
He was nominated once for a Grammy, once for a Golden Globe (and won), twice for an Emmy (winning once), and 10 times for an Oscar, including two nominations in 1944 and 1945.
Born in New York City, Scharf was the son of Yiddish theater comic Bessie Zwerling. While in his 20s, he was one of the orchestrators for Gershwin's Broadway musical "Girl Crazy," became singer Helen Morgan's accompanist, and later worked as pianist and arranger for singer Rudy Vallee.
He began working in Hollywood in 1933, arranging for Al Jolson at Warner Bros., Alice Faye at 20th Century-Fox and Bing Crosby at Paramount. He orchestrated the original version of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" for the film "Holiday Inn" (1942), and from 1942 to 1946 he served as head of music for Republic Pictures.
Through the 1930s, he wrote incidental music for more than a dozen films, although he did not receive screen credit for most of them. He was nominated for his first Oscar for the score of "Mercy Island," a 1942 melodrama set in the Florida Keys. Over the next 30 years, he was nominated for his work on "Hans Christian Andersen" in 1953, "Funny Girl" in 1968, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" in 1972, and "Ben" in 1973, but he never won an Academy Award.
Scharf did win an Emmy for his work on a National Geographic television special and a Golden Globe for "Ben," whose chart-topping theme song helped launch singer Michael Jackson's solo career. Scharf and Don Black shared a credit for composing the song.
In his more than 40 years in Hollywood, Scharf worked with some of the most popular screen stars. His favorite project was "Hans Christian Andersen," partly because he and actor Danny Kaye, who played the lead, talked about scenes and ideas over rounds of golf.
Scharf worked on five movies with Elvis Presley, starting in 1957 with "Loving You." "I didn't want to do those movies," Scharf said in 1992. But, he added, "the royalties were marvelous." One of his strongest memories of Presley was the way he always referred to him as "Mr. Scharf." Scharf also worked for nearly two years with Barbra Streisand on "Funny Girl."
In the early 1960s, Scharf was approached by Harold Lloyd to provide new scores for his silent film compilations. Lloyd regarded Scharf's ability to mix comedy themes with big, dramatic orchestral touches as ideal for his brand of "thrill" comedy. Scharf implemented a similar style for the Jerry Lewis Jekyll and Hyde-inspired comedy "The Nutty Professor" (1963), working on more than a dozen Lewis comedies overall.
Scharf composed music for dozens of 1960s television dramas including "Ben Casey," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "Mission: Impossible," although he became best known for his music for the National Geographic Society and "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" documentaries, which he scored between 1965 and 1975. He won an Emmy in 1971 for "The Tragedy of the Red Salmon." He also composed an original symphonic work, "The Legend of the Living Sea," for a Cousteau museum exhibit aboard the RMS Queen Mary in 1971.
Scharf's initial work for the concert hall was "The Palestine Suite," written in 1945 and performed at the Hollywood Bowl under Leopold Stokowski. After retiring from films and TV in the 1980s, he returned to concert writing, notably with "The Tree Still Stands: A Symphonic Portrait of the Stages of a Hebraic Man," commissioned by the Stephen S. Wise Temple and first performed in 1989, and the 1993 "The Israeli Suite."
Scharf wrote an unproduced opera based on Norman Corwin's "The Plot to Overthrow Christmas" and received the Golden Score Award from the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers in 1997.
Classical compositions were his antidote to the frustrations of the movie and television industry, he said. "I feel like I'm being squeezed through a revolving door," Scharf said after completing nearly two hours of music for the eight-part miniseries "Blind Ambition," about the political career of White House counselor John Dean during the Nixon administration. The series aired in 1979.
What made the work exhausting? "My job is to keep you glued to the screen," Scharf said. "I'm constantly providing little hooks to keep people interested."
Scharf died at his home in Brentwood, Calif., of heart failure at the age of 92.
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