Quotes by Alex North

About Alex North:

Alex North was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including A Streetcar Named Desire (one of the first jazz-based film scores), Viva Zapata!, Spartacus, Cleopatra, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He was the first composer to receive an Honorary Academy Award.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Fear is a problem with film music and films; people want to be conventional, and there's more commercialism today. If you are not daring in your art, you're bankrupt.

Alex North

My best film composing experience was with Elia Kazan.

Alex North

I prefer to write music for family films. I like people.

Alex North

The United States and Turkey are the only two countries that don't have some kind of subsidy for the Arts. The whole culture in society has made certain films more acceptable. I turned down so many films in the '60s and '70s.

Alex North

When I decided to go to a country that subsidized music, I went to the Soviet Union for two years.

Alex North

Composers today get a TV script on Friday and have to record on Tuesday. It's just dreadful to impose on gifted talent and expect decent music under these conditions.

Alex North

There are so few directors who are musical who appreciate music.

Alex North

Today it's not culture; it's box office.

Alex North

Being an old radical, I like films like Spartacus. I could relate to the hero.

Alex North

There are scores you have to write objectively without getting involved.

Alex North

I like what I hear as a resulting combination of these two strands... something of a combination of familiarity and, for lack of a better word, strangeness.

Alex North

Author Bio

  • NameAlex North
  • DescriptionAmerican composer
  • BornDecember 10, 1910
  • DiedSeptember 8, 1991
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionComposer; Jazz Musician
  • WorksUnchained Melody
  • AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship; Emmy Award