---
name: "Virgil Thomson"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/virgil-thomson"
fi1m_id: "virgil-thomson"
imdb_id: "nm0861110"
tmdb_id: 31500
wikidata_id: "Q544485"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "25 November 1896"
died: "30 September 1989"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-25T04:28:45.093085+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."
---

# Virgil Thomson

## Identity

Virgil Thomson

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/virgil-thomson
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** virgil-thomson
- **IMDb ID:** nm0861110
- **TMDB ID:** 31500
- **Wikidata ID:** Q544485
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil_Thomson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q544485, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0861110/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/31500

Composer. Born 25 November 1896 in Kansas City. Died 30 September 1989.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 25 November 1896, Kansas City
- **Died:** 30 September 1989
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil_Thomson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q544485, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0861110/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/31500

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Louisiana Story*](https://film.one/film/louisiana-story.md) (72)

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

## Biography

Virgil Thomson was an American composer and music critic. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, on 25 November 1896, he died in New York on 30 September 1989. He studied at Harvard University and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

Thomson composed scores for documentary films including *The Plow That Broke the Plains* (1936), *The River* (1938) and *Louisiana Story* (1948). The score for *Louisiana Story* received the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1949. He collaborated with Gertrude Stein on operas such as *Four Saints in Three Acts* (1934). From 1940 to 1954 he was music critic for the New York Herald Tribune.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, virgilthomson.org, britannica.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Louisiana Story* (1948), Fi1m 72, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/louisiana-story.md)

## Complete filmography (10)

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

- *Is Dead - Portrait incomplet de Gertrude Stein* (2000), Original Music Composer
- *Power Among Men* (1959), Music
- *The Goddess* (1958), Original Music Composer
- *King Lear* (1953), Original Music Composer
- *Louisiana Story* (1948), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/louisiana-story.md)
- *Tuesday in November* (1945), Music
- *The River* (1938), Original Music Composer
- *The Spanish Earth* (1937), Music
- *The Plow That Broke the Plains* (1936), Original Music Composer
- *145 W. 21* (1936), Actor

## Gallery

- ![Title: Virgil Thomson, composer/critic Creator(s): Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer Date Created/Published: [1983] Medium: 1 photograph : color transparency ; 35m](https://film.one/media/person/3866331/gallery-43d0c7c608f0.jpg) Title: Virgil Thomson, composer/critic Creator(s): Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer Date Created/Published: [1983] Medium: 1 photograph : color transparency ; 35m — Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Virgil_Thomson_1983.jpg/1280px-Virgil_Thomson_1983.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Virgil Thomson](https://film.one/media/person/3866331/gallery-f1d4a4d11741.jpg) Virgil Thomson — Carl Van Vechten / Adam Cuerden, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Virgil_Thomson_by_Carl_Van_Vechten.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)

## Awards

### Other awards — 3 won

- National Medal of Arts 1988: National Medal of Arts (won)
- National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism 1981: National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism (won)
- Pulitzer Prize for Music 1949: Pulitzer Prize for Music (won)

*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/virgil-thomson