---
name: "Paul Smith"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/paul-j-smith"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "30 October 1906"
died: "25 January 1985"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_fi1m_score: 83
updated: "2026-09-17T05:53:55.589799+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."
---

# Paul Smith

Composer. Born 30 October 1906 in Calumet, Michigan, USA. Died 25 January 1985.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 30 October 1906, Calumet, Michigan, USA
- **Died:** 25 January 1985
- **Active:** 1938–1950
- **Also known as:** Paul J. Smith
- **Works often with:** [Walt Disney](https://film.one/person/walt-disney.md), [Wilfred Jackson](https://film.one/person/wilfred-jackson.md), [Ben Sharpsteen](https://film.one/person/ben-sharpsteen.md), [Edward H. Plumb](https://film.one/person/edward-h-plumb.md), [Frank Churchill](https://film.one/person/frank-churchill.md), [Hamilton Luske](https://film.one/person/hamilton-luske.md), [Leigh Harline](https://film.one/person/leigh-harline.md)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 85 (1), 1940s 87 (2), 1950s 72 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1356617, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1345229/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2107

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*Pinocchio*](https://film.one/film/pinocchio.md) (88), [*Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*](https://film.one/film/snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs.md) (85), [*Cinderella*](https://film.one/film/cinderella-1950.md) (72)

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

## Biography

Paul J. Smith (also credited as Paul Smith) was an American composer and violinist. He was born on 30 October 1906 in Calumet, Michigan, and died on 25 January 1985 in Glendale, California.

Smith studied music at the College of Idaho from 1923 to 1925 and at the Bush Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He joined Walt Disney Studios in 1934 and remained there until 1962. His film scores include *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* (1937), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, *Pinocchio* (1940), for which he shared an Academy Award for Best Original Score with Leigh Harline and Ned Washington, and *Cinderella* (1950). He also composed for many other Disney animated features, shorts and True-Life Adventures documentaries, as well as some live-action films and the television series *Leave It to Beaver* (1962–1963). He appeared as a violinist in the orchestra in *Fantasia* (1940).

Smith received further Academy Award nominations for *Saludos Amigos* (1942), *Victory Through Air Power* (1943), *The Three Caballeros* (1945), *Song of the South* (1946), *Cinderella* (1950) and *Perri* (1957). He was posthumously named a Disney Legend in 1994.

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

## On Fi1m (4)

- *Cinderella* (1950), Fi1m 72, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/cinderella-1950.md)
- *Bambi* (1942), Fi1m 86, Orchestrator — [page](https://film.one/film/bambi.md)
- *Pinocchio* (1940), Fi1m 88, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/pinocchio.md)
- *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* (1938), Fi1m 85, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs.md)

## Also known for

- *20,000 Leagues Under the Sea* (1954), Original Music Composer
- *The Three Caballeros* (1944), Music Director
- *Fun and Fancy Free* (1947), Original Music Composer
- *Saludos Amigos* (1942), Original Music Composer
- *The Parent Trap* (1961), Original Music Composer
- *Song of the South* (1946), Music Arranger
- *Pollyanna* (1960), Original Music Composer
- *Thru the Mirror* (1936), 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/paul-j-smith