Biography
Leroy Bernard Shield (also credited as LeRoy Shield or Roy Shield) was an American composer, conductor and pianist. Born on 2 October 1893 in Waseca, Minnesota, he joined the Victor Talking Machine Company around 1922, where he composed, conducted and accompanied recordings. From the early 1930s he worked part-time for the Hal Roach studio, supplying numerous uncredited incidental pieces and themes for its comedy shorts.
His music featured prominently in the Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang series, including stock cues used in Sons of the Desert (1933), Our Relations (1936) and Bonnie Scotland (1935). After 1936 his Roach assignments declined. Shield later held roles with NBC radio in Chicago and New York, including as personnel contractor for Arturo Toscanini’s NBC Symphony Orchestra. He received an honorary doctorate from the Chicago Musical College in 1942 and retired in 1955. He died on 9 January 1962 in Florida.
