---
name: "Meredith Willson"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/meredith-willson"
fi1m_id: "meredith-willson"
imdb_id: "nm0932745"
tmdb_id: 424103
wikidata_id: "Q1281750"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "18 May 1902"
died: "15 June 1984"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 82
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-20T03:58:39.204517+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."
---

# Meredith Willson

## Identity

Meredith Willson

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/meredith-willson
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** meredith-willson
- **IMDb ID:** nm0932745
- **TMDB ID:** 424103
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1281750
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meredith_Willson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1281750, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0932745/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/424103

Composer. Born 18 May 1902 in Mason City, Iowa, USA. Died 15 June 1984.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 18 May 1902, Mason City, Iowa, USA
- **Died:** 15 June 1984
- **Active:** 1940–1962
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 3: 1 writing, 2 crew
- **Academy Awards:** 2 Oscar nominations
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1940s 82 (2), 1960s 78 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meredith_Willson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1281750, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0932745/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/424103

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The Little Foxes*](https://film.one/film/the-little-foxes.md) (85)
- **HBO Max:** [*The Great Dictator*](https://film.one/film/the-great-dictator.md) (80)
- **Tubi:** [*The Music Man*](https://film.one/film/the-music-man.md) (78)

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

## Biography

Meredith Willson was an American composer, flautist, conductor and playwright. Born on 18 May 1902 in Mason City, Iowa, he studied at the Institute of Musical Art in New York (later Juilliard) and played flute and piccolo in John Philip Sousa's band from 1921 to 1923 and in the New York Philharmonic under Arturo Toscanini from 1924 to 1929.

Willson composed the score for Charlie Chaplin's *The Great Dictator* (1940), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, and arranged music for *The Little Foxes* (1941), earning a second nomination. He is best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the Broadway musical *The Music Man*, which premiered in 1957 and was adapted into a 1962 film; he also wrote *The Unsinkable Molly Brown* (1960 Broadway; 1964 film).

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org.*

## On Fi1m (3)

### Wrote (1)

- *The Music Man* (1962), Fi1m 78, Original Music Composer, Songs, Music, Story — [page](https://film.one/film/the-music-man.md)

### Crew (2) — the average rests on these

- *The Little Foxes* (1941), Fi1m 85, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-little-foxes.md)
- *The Great Dictator* (1940), Fi1m 80, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/the-great-dictator.md)

## Complete filmography (8)

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

- *Becoming Benanti: The Role of a Lifetime* (2022), Music, Lyricist
- *The Music Man* (2003), Musical, Story, Songs, Book
- *The Unsinkable Molly Brown* (1964), as Songs
- *The Music Man* (1962), Story, Music, Songs, Original Music Composer — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/the-music-man.md)
- *The Name's the Same* (1951), series, Actor
- *Ballad of Idyllwild* (1951), Original Music Composer
- *The Little Foxes* (1941), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/the-little-foxes.md)
- *The Great Dictator* (1940), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/the-great-dictator.md)

## Gallery

- ![Meredith Willson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2010)](https://film.one/media/person/102857/gallery-bbd04ba82996.jpg) Meredith Willson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2010) — JGKlein, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Meredith_Willson_Star_HWF.JPG/1280px-Meredith_Willson_Star_HWF.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Meredith Willson statue at Music Man Square (2018)](https://film.one/media/person/102857/gallery-78a482da39c2.jpg) Meredith Willson statue at Music Man Square (2018) — OmgWhizBoyOmg, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Meredith_Willson_statue.jpg/1280px-Meredith_Willson_statue.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 1942: Best Original Dramatic Score (nominated), for *The Little Foxes*
- 1941: Best Original Score (nominated), for *The Great Dictator*

### Other awards — 2 won

- Presidential Medal of Freedom 1987: Presidential Medal of Freedom (won)
- Tony Award for Best Musical 1958: Tony Award for Best Musical (won), for *The Music Man*

*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/meredith-willson