---
name: "Harold Arlen"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/harold-arlen"
fi1m_id: "harold-arlen"
imdb_id: "nm0002182"
tmdb_id: 9056
wikidata_id: "Q448644"
roles: ["Songs"]
born: "15 February 1905"
died: "23 April 1986"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 83
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-20T02:38:27.928386+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."
---

# Harold Arlen

## Identity

Harold Arlen

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/harold-arlen
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** harold-arlen
- **IMDb ID:** nm0002182
- **TMDB ID:** 9056
- **Wikidata ID:** Q448644
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Arlen, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q448644, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002182/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/9056

Songs. Born 15 February 1905 in Buffalo, New York, USA. Died 23 April 1986.

## Details

- **Work:** Songs
- **Born:** 15 February 1905, Buffalo, New York, USA
- **Died:** 23 April 1986
- **Active:** 1939–1954
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 6 nominated)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 88 (2), 1950s 74 (1)
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 2, Adventure 1, Family 1, Fantasy 1, Romance 1
- **Screen time:** 5 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $34m across 1 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Arlen, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q448644, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002182/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/9056

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*The Wizard of Oz*](https://film.one/film/the-wizard-of-oz.md) (91)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; 15 February 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an American composer of popular songs. Born in Buffalo, New York, the son of a cantor, he left school as a teenager and moved to New York City, where he worked as a pianist, singer and arranger with dance bands before concentrating on composition.

In the late 1920s he began a successful partnership with lyricist Ted Koehler, writing numbers for Harlem’s Cotton Club revues. From the mid-1930s he collaborated with E. Y. “Yip” Harburg on stage and screen scores, including the songs for the 1939 film *The Wizard of Oz*, among them “Over the Rainbow”. In the 1940s he worked frequently with Johnny Mercer on film songs such as “Blues in the Night” and “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)”.

Arlen also contributed to Broadway musicals including *Hooray for What?* (1937), *Bloomer Girl* (1944) and *St. Louis Woman* (1946). His film credits include songs for *A Star Is Born* (1954) and *The Country Girl* (1954).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com, songhall.org.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *The Country Girl* (1954), Fi1m 74, Songs — [page](https://film.one/film/the-country-girl.md)
- *Love Affair* (1939), Fi1m 85, Songs — [page](https://film.one/film/love-affair.md)
- *The Wizard of Oz* (1939), Fi1m 91, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/the-wizard-of-oz.md)

## Complete filmography (41)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Berlin Jazz Piano Workshop 1965* (2007), Original Music Composer
- *The Wizard of Oz on Ice* (1996), as Songs
- *The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True* (1995), as Songs
- *I Could Go on Singing* (1963), as Songs
- *Gay Purr-ee* (1962), as Songs
- *Bloomer Girl* (1956), as Songs
- *Paris in the Springtime* (1956), as Songs
- *The Country Girl* (1954), as Songs — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/the-country-girl.md)
- *A Star Is Born* (1954), Original Music Composer
- *The Farmer Takes a Wife* (1953), as Songs
- *Down Among the Sheltering Palms* (1953), as Songs
- *Mr. Imperium* (1951), as Songs
- *My Blue Heaven* (1950), as Songs
- *Summer Stock* (1950), as Songs
- *The Petty Girl* (1950), as Songs
- *Slightly French* (1949), as Songs
- *Casbah* (1948), as Songs · Original Music Composer
- *Earl Carroll Sketchbook* (1946), as Songs
- *Out of This World* (1945), as Songs
- *Here Come the Waves* (1944), as Songs
- *Kismet* (1944), as Songs
- *Youth Runs Wild* (1944), as Songs
- *Up in Arms* (1944), as Songs
- *The Sky's the Limit* (1943), Original Music Composer, Songs
- *Cabin in the Sky* (1943), as Songs
- *They Got Me Covered* (1943), Original Music Composer
- *Rio Rita* (1942), as Songs
- *Star Spangled Rhythm* (1942), as Songs
- *Blues in the Night* (1941), as Songs
- *I Wake Up Screaming* (1941), Additional Music
- *At the Circus* (1939), as Songs
- *The Wizard of Oz* (1939), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/film/the-wizard-of-oz.md)
- *Love Affair* (1939), as Songs — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/love-affair.md)
- *Artists & Models* (1937), as Songs
- *Gold Diggers of 1937* (1936), as Songs
- *Stage Struck* (1936), Music, Songs, Music Score Producer
- *The Singing Kid* (1936), as Songs · Lyricist, Music
- *Strike Me Pink* (1936), as Songs
- *Splendor* (1935), as Songs
- *Let's Fall in Love* (1933), as Songs
- *Lydia*, Music

## Gallery

- ![Harold Arlen, 17 May 1960](https://film.one/media/person/104631/gallery-facfb197b625.jpg) Harold Arlen, 17 May 1960 — Carl Van Vechten, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/HaroldArlen1960.jpg/1280px-HaroldArlen1960.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Photo of composer Harold Arlen and singer Tony Bennett rehearsing for the television program The Twentieth Century. The program was a series of documentaries; t (1964)](https://film.one/media/person/104631/gallery-e6cf0a1b4e59.jpg) Photo of composer Harold Arlen and singer Tony Bennett rehearsing for the television program The Twentieth Century. The program was a series of documentaries; t (1964) — CBS Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Harold_Arlen_Tony_Bennett_1964.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Jet magazine](https://film.one/media/person/104631/gallery-ee0592102666.jpg) Jet magazine — Various - Published by Johnson Publishing Company, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Jet_10_Dec_1953_pg_PA57.jpg/1280px-Jet_10_Dec_1953_pg_PA57.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Harold Arlen](https://film.one/media/person/104631/gallery-9dc0134beb53.jpg) Harold Arlen — Carl Van Vechten, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Portrait_of_Harold_Arlen_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Portrait_of_Harold_Arlen_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Title: Portrait of Harold Arlen Physical description: 1 photographic print : gelatin silver. Notes: Forms part of: Portrait photographs of celebrities, a LOT wh (1960)](https://film.one/media/person/104631/gallery-58810ebfcfaf.jpg) Title: Portrait of Harold Arlen Physical description: 1 photographic print : gelatin silver. Notes: Forms part of: Portrait photographs of celebrities, a LOT wh (1960) — Carl Van Vechten, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Portrait_of_Harold_Arlen_LCCN2004662523.jpg/1280px-Portrait_of_Harold_Arlen_LCCN2004662523.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won, 6 nominated

- 1955: Best Original Song (nominated), for *The Man That Got Away*
- 1949: Best Original Song (nominated), for *For Every Man There’s a Woman*
- 1946: Best Original Song (nominated), for *Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive*
- 1945: Best Original Song (nominated), for *Now I Know*
- 1944: Best Original Song (nominated), for *That Old Black Magic*
- 1942: Best Original Song (nominated), for *Blues in the Night*
- 1940: Best Original Song (won), for *Over the Rainbow*

### Other awards — 2 won, 1 nominated

- Grammy Trustees Award 1987: Grammy Trustees Award (won)
- Johnny Mercer Award 1982: Johnny Mercer Award (won)
- Tony Award for Best Musical 1958: Tony Award for Best Musical (nominated), for *Jamaica*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© 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/harold-arlen