---
name: "Fred Steiner"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/fred-steiner"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "24 February 1923"
died: "23 June 2011"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T15:53:45.528854+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Fred Steiner

Composer. Born 24 February 1923 in New York City. Died 23 June 2011.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 24 February 1923, New York City
- **Died:** 23 June 2011

## Biography

Fred Steiner was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator for television, radio and film. Born in New York City, he studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and began his career writing and arranging scores for radio programmes in the 1940s before moving to Los Angeles.

He contributed music to numerous television series, including many episodes of the original *Star Trek* (1966), for which he composed or conducted more incidental music than any other composer. Steiner also wrote the theme for *Perry Mason* and the opening music for *The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show*, and worked on series such as *The Twilight Zone*, *Gunsmoke* and *Bonanza*. In film he served as orchestrator on *The Color Purple* (1985), sharing an Academy Award nomination for the score, and provided uncredited music for *Return of the Jedi* (1983). He died in 2011.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, memory-alpha.fandom.com, imdb.com, nytimes.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Star Trek* (1966), Fi1m 83, Music — [page](https://film.one/tv/star-trek-1966.md)

## Also known for

- *The Color Purple* (1985), Orchestrator
- *Tiny Toon Adventures* (1990), Music
- *Bonanza* (1959), Music
- *Amazing Stories* (1985), Music
- *Dynasty* (1981), Music
- *The St. Valentine's Day Massacre* (1967), Music

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/fred-steiner