Biography
Ray Heindorf (also credited as Raymond John Heindorf) was an American composer, songwriter, conductor and arranger. Born in Haverstraw, New York, on 25 August 1908, he began working as a pianist in a movie house while still in his teens before moving to New York City in 1928 and then to Hollywood the following year.
He joined Warner Bros. in the early 1930s and remained there for nearly forty years, composing, arranging and conducting for dozens of films. He is credited on Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), 42nd Street (1933), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), A Star Is Born (1954) and Calamity Jane (1953), among many others. Heindorf received eighteen Academy Award nominations between 1942 and 1969 and won three Oscars for Best Score of a Musical, including for Yankee Doodle Dandy.
He made a cameo appearance as himself in A Star Is Born (1954). His son Michael Heindorf also worked as a film composer. Heindorf died on 3 February 1980.
