Biography
Oscar Levant (27 December 1906 – 14 August 1972) was an American concert pianist, composer, conductor, actor and author. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he studied piano with Zygmunt Stojowski and composition with Arnold Schoenberg. He composed scores for numerous Hollywood films and Broadway productions, and performed extensively as a pianist, including works by George Gershwin.
Levant appeared in supporting roles in several Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals, playing Adam Cook in An American in Paris (1951), Lester Marton in The Band Wagon (1953) and Ezra Millar in The Barkleys of Broadway (1949). He also portrayed himself in the Gershwin biopic Rhapsody in Blue (1945) and appeared in Humoresque (1947). He was a regular panellist on the radio quiz show Information Please and hosted his own television programme in the late 1950s. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
