---
name: "Willy Schmidt-Gentner"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/willy-schmidt-gentner"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "6 April 1894"
died: "12 February 1964"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T11:27:16.732231+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."
---

# Willy Schmidt-Gentner

Composer. Born 6 April 1894 in Neustadt am Rennsteig, Thuringia, Germany. Died 12 February 1964.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 6 April 1894, Neustadt am Rennsteig, Thuringia, Germany
- **Died:** 12 February 1964
- **Also known as:** Willy Schmidt Gentner, Willi Schmidt-Gentner, Schmidt-Gentner

## Biography

Willy Schmidt-Gentner was a German composer of film music. Born on 6 April 1894 in Neustadt am Rennsteig, Thuringia, he studied the violin and composition with Max Reger. After the First World War he worked as a civil servant before becoming involved in cinema music, initially as an orchestral leader in Berlin cinemas.

He composed scores for numerous German silent films, including *Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans* (1927) and *Woman in the Moon* (1929). In 1933 he moved to Vienna, where he continued to score films and directed two features. He remained active after the war, writing music for around 200 films in total, many of them Austrian musicals and Heimatfilme, until his retirement in 1955. He died in Vienna on 12 February 1964.

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

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans* (1927), Fi1m 88, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/sunrise-a-song-of-two-humans.md)

## Also known for

- *Woman in the Moon* (1929), 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/willy-schmidt-gentner