American film composer, musician, arranger and conductor.
Born 1 August 1910 in New York City, New York, USA.
Died 24 February 2003 in Brentwood, California, USA.
He was an Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner and ten-time Oscar-nominee, working on over 200 motion pictures, his film music career continuing through six decades. He started playing music at an early age, helping his uncle play the piano in theaters for silent films. His mother Bessie Zwerling was a well-known comedian in New York's Yiddish theater.
Scharf studied music at New York University in 1929. In 1931 he was Kate Smith's accompanist, then joined Rudy Vallee as arranger-accompanist. 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. Scharf was at 20th Century Fox from 1936-40, arranging all the musicals produced by Darryl Zanuck including Alexander's Ragtime Band, You Can't Have Everything, Sally, Irene and Mary, and Lillian Russell.
Scharf went to Paramount in 1941 as arranger-composer. He worked on such films as Birth of the Blues, Louisiana Purchase, Holiday Inn, Star-Spangled Rhythm, and more. From 1942-46, he headed the Music Department at Republic Studios, where he composed and directed the scores for In Old Oklahoma, The Prodigal's Mother, The Cheaters, I've Always Loved You, and Love, Honor and Goodbye.
Next, Scharf moved to Universal-International, where he composed for Casbah, The Saxon Charm, Take One False Step, Yes, Sir, That's My Baby. For RKO he did Two Tickets To Broadway and The French Line. He scored and directed the music for Hans Christian Anderson; composed and directed Live It Up, Three Ring Circus, You're Never Too Young, Artists and Models, the last four Martin & Lewis pictures and The Birds And The Bees with George Gobel.
At NBC Walter was musical director of the Phil Harris-Alice Faye Radio Show for 8 years. In 1954, he did the Texaco TV Show with Donald O'Connor. His next pictures included Hollywood or Bust, Three Violent People, Bundle of Joy with Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, and The Joker Is Wild with Frank Sinatra.
During the next 20-odd years as composer, arranger and director, Scharf was nominated for the Academy Award 9 times. His first nomination came for the score of Mercy Island (1941). Other nominations came for Hans Christian Andersen (1952), Funny Girl (1968), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Ben (1972), but he never won. In 1955 he was nominated for the TV Emmy Award for the Texaco Show and won the Radio Life Award in 1947. Walter won the Musical Courier Award in 1946 for I've Always Loved You, the life of Leopold Godowsky. His Emmy award came for his work on a National Geographic TV special, and his Golden Globe award was won for his work on Ben.