Nelson Riddle

Nelson Riddle

Birth : 1921-06-01, Oradell, New Jersey, USA

Death : 1985-10-06

Profile

Nelson Riddle

Movies

Judy Garland: By Myself
Himself (voice)
As Hollywood biographies go, Judy Garland's story is one of the saddest success stories you'll ever hear. The sanitized studio version of her life presented a smiling kid with the big voice, who, alongside Mickey Rooney, just wanted to put on a show. But drugs, overwork, even psychological abuse at the hands of the studio is now part of the Garland legend. But despite the number of Garland books and documentaries, one account has always been missing -- Garland herself never managed to write a memoir. She did make several attempts at an autobiography, often recording stories on a tape recorder. Judy Garland: By Myself (2004), finally fills in the blanks - using Judy's personal recordings to tell the story in her own words.
All Star Party for Lucille Ball
Music Director
All Star Party for Lucille Ball
Self
Linda Ronstadt in Concert: What's New
Music Arranger
Musical performance by Linda Ronstadt.
Linda Ronstadt in Concert: What's New
Musical performance by Linda Ronstadt.
Help Wanted: Male
Music
An unmarried career woman decides she wants a baby and finds a suitable partner, a sportswriter working for the magazine she publishes. After she maneuvers him into proposing marriage to her, she learns that he happens to be sterile.
Margin for Murder
Music
Mickey Spillane's hard-hitting '50s private eye, Mike Hammer, returns to television in the guise of Kevin Dobson to track down the killer of his best friend who was driving Hammer's car. Joining in the hunt are the detective's Girl Friday, the ever-hopeful Velda, and his cop friend, Pat Chambers.
Rough Cut
Original Music Composer
A romantic comedy with action and suspense. Two sophisticated jewel thieves join forces to steal $30 million in uncut jewels. Despite a continuous exchange of quips they eventually become romantically involved.
Guyana: Crime of the Century
Music
This horrific dramatization of the Guyana tragedy traces the steps of Reverend Jim Jones, a highly charismatic, but profoundly paranoid clergyman, who after years of evangelism and good deeds, begins his own church in the mid-western United States. When Jim Jones becomes increasingly obsessed with the belief that the CIA is "a wicked enemy" who is out to get him, he emigrates with his congregation to Guyana, where he plans to create a utopia. But Jim Jones' utopia consists of a society where he demands his followers turn their minds, bodies and possessions over to him, one that is rife with orgies, physical violence, mental torture, and sexual abuse of children and adults. Ultimately, Jim Jones' paranoia reaches a fevered pitch that culminates in him taking savage action against his own congregation. (VCI Home Video)
The Carpenters: A Christmas Portrait
Music Director
Richard and Karen Carpenter host a musical celebration of the holiday with celebrity guests Gene Kelly, Georgia Engel, and Jimmy & Kristy McNichol.
The Carpenters: A Christmas Portrait
Music Arranger
Richard and Karen Carpenter host a musical celebration of the holiday with celebrity guests Gene Kelly, Georgia Engel, and Jimmy & Kristy McNichol.
The November Plan
Original Music Composer
A hard-nosed private detective investigates a suspected overthrow of the U.S. government. Loosely based on The Business Plot of 1933.
What Now, Catherine Curtis?
Original Music Composer
Following twenty-three years of marriage to a philandering husband, divorcee Catherine Curtis begins life anew as a single woman.
Three for Two
Original Music Composer
Lucille Ball stars with the Great One, Jackie Gleason, combining their comedic talents for the first time in a trio of comedy-dramas centered on the various aspects of marriage.
Mobile Two
Music
A TV reporter whose career was ruined by his drinking gets another chance when he is hired by a TV news program.
Promise Him Anything
Music
A young bachelor using a dating service picks a woman whose information card read "Anything goes." When he takes her out and finds out that she didn't live up to her description, he sues her for breach of contract.
The Runaway Barge
Original Music Composer
Two bargemen on the Mississippi River find themselves mixed up in a kidnapping and hijacking plot.
Lucy Gets Lucky
Original Music Composer
Lucy pulls out all the stops in Las Vegas to see her favorite entertainer, Dean Martin. Lucy gets a job working at the MGM Grand casino and high-stakes hijinks follow.
Happy Anniversary and Goodbye
Original Music Composer
As her 25th anniversary approaches, Norma Michaels realizes that her marriage to her dentist husband Malcolm has become boring. Seeking independence, Norma turns to her friend Fay while Malcolm receives advice from his swinging associate Greg.
The Great Gatsby
Music Supervisor
Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.
The Blue Knight
Music
Bumper Morgan is a veteran Los Angeles Police Department street cop. He is due to retire after 20 years on the job, but is not letting up on the criminal element on his beat.
Emergency! [Pilot]
Original Music Composer
The pilot movie to the hit series about Los Angeles paramedics and their interaction with the fire department and hospital system.
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
Original Music Composer
Daisy Gamble, an unusual woman who hears phones before they ring, and does wonders with her flowers, wants to quit smoking to please her fiancé, Warren. She goes to a doctor of hypnosis to do it. But once she's under, her doctor finds out that she can regress into past lives and different personalities, and he finds himself falling in love with one of them.
Paint Your Wagon
Conductor
A Michigan farmer and a prospector form a partnership in the California gold country. Their adventures include buying and sharing a wife, hijacking a stage, kidnapping six prostitutes, and turning their mining camp into a boom town. Along the way there is plenty of drinking, gambling, and singing. They even find time to do some creative gold mining.
Paint Your Wagon
Original Music Composer
A Michigan farmer and a prospector form a partnership in the California gold country. Their adventures include buying and sharing a wife, hijacking a stage, kidnapping six prostitutes, and turning their mining camp into a boom town. Along the way there is plenty of drinking, gambling, and singing. They even find time to do some creative gold mining.
The Great Bank Robbery
Original Music Composer
A motley group of phony church leaders attempts to rob a bank controlled by brothers in 1880's Texas.
Tarzan's Jungle Rebellion
Original Music Composer
In this exciting jungle adventure the esteemed archaeologist, Dr Singleton, and his daughter, Mary, travel to mystical Africa in search of an ancient artifact: the fabled Blue Stone of Heaven. Imbued with the unfathomable power to bestow its holder with immense strength, the statuette attracts corrupt Colonel Tatakombi, who, blind with greed, intends to spark an uprising, and turn the natives against Tarzan. Can mighty Tarzan avert the jungle rebellion?
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Original Music Composer
A young but bright former window cleaner rises to the top of his company by following the advice of a book about ruthless advancement in business.
The Spy in the Green Hat
Original Music Composer
"Spy in the Green Hat, The (1966)" on the other hand, is both exciting AND funny. Especially the scene where Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) hides from THRUSH agents under a young woman's (the incredibly cute Letícia Román) bed and is caught by the woman's grandmother (Penny Santon), who is forcing Solo to marry the young woman. He successfully escapes, but is hunted by a legion of stereotyped Italian gangsters. Now that's comedy.
El Dorado
Songs
Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Hara. Together with a fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.
El Dorado
Conductor
Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Hara. Together with a fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.
El Dorado
Original Music Composer
Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Hara. Together with a fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.
Batman
Original Music Composer
The Dynamic Duo faces four super-villains who plan to hold the world for ransom with the help of a secret invention that instantly dehydrates people.
Red Line 7000
Music
The lives and passions of a stock car team are revealed against the turbulent backdrop of the professional racing world.
A Rage to Live
Music
Grace Caldwell, a young Pennsylvania newspaper heiress living with her widowed mother, has trouble restraining herself when it comes to the amorous attentions of young men. As word starts to spread about her behavior, Grace becomes a major source of heartache for her mother and a big source of concern to her brother.
Marriage on the Rocks
Original Music Composer
Ad-agency president Dan Edwards goes to Mexico to celebrate his nineteenth wedding anniversary and winds up getting divorced by mistake, whereupon his wife Valerie marries his best friend Ernie Brewer by mistake.
Harlow
Original Music Composer
Loosely based biography of 1930s star Jean Harlow as she begins her climb to stardom. One of two "Harlow" film biographies that appeared in 1965, this one stars Carol Lynley in the title role that begins as Jean Harlow, a bit player in Laurel and Hardy comedies, is invited to test for director Jonathan Martin for the lead in Howard Hughes's "Hell's Angels." She is an instantaneous sensation, and in a series of films devoted more to her body than her talent, she becomes Hollywood's "Platanum Blonde."
What a Way to Go!
Music
A four-time widow discusses her four marriages, in which all of her husbands became incredibly rich and died prematurely because of their drive to be rich.
Robin and the 7 Hoods
Original Music Composer
In prohibition-era Chicago, the corrupt sheriff and Guy Gisborne, a south-side racketeer, knock off the boss Big Jim. Everyone falls in line behind Guy except Robbo, who controls the north side. Although he's out-gunned, Robbo wants to keep his own territory. A pool-playing dude from Indiana and the director of a boys' orphanage join forces with Robbo; and, when he gives some money to the orphanage, he becomes the toast of the town as a hood like Robin Hood. Meanwhile, Guy schemes to get rid of Robbo, and Big Jim's heretofore unknown daughter Marian appears and goes from man to man trying to find an ally in her quest to run the whole show. Can Robbo hold things together?
Paris When It Sizzles
Original Music Composer
Hollywood producer Alexander Meyerheimer has hired drunken writer Richard Benson to write his latest movie. Benson has been holed up in a Paris apartment supposedly working on the script for months, but instead has spent the time living it up. Benson now has just two days to the deadline and thus hires a temporary secretary, Gabrielle Simpson, to help him complete it in time.
4 for Texas
Original Music Composer
In the 1870s, two rival businessmen, Zack Thomas and Joe Jarrett, on a stagecoach heading to Galveston, Texas, must pull together to protect $100,000 from an outlaw named Matson. Once in Galveston, however, their rivalry continues, as Thomas joins up with Elya Carlson and Jarret with Maxine Richter. But Matson is still on the loose, and a scheming banker threatens both Thomas and Jarrett.
Come Blow Your Horn
Original Music Composer
The story of a young man's decision to leave the home of his parents for the bachelor pad of his older brother who leads a swinging '60s lifestyle.
Lolita
Original Music Composer
Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon becomes obsessed with Lolita, the woman's teenaged daughter.
Ocean's Eleven
Conductor
Danny Ocean and his gang attempt to rob the five biggest casinos in Las Vegas in one night.
Ocean's Eleven
Original Music Composer
Danny Ocean and his gang attempt to rob the five biggest casinos in Las Vegas in one night.
Can-Can
Music Arranger
Parisian nightclub owner Simone Pistache is known for her performances of the can-can, which attracts the ire of the self-righteous Judge Philipe Forrestier. He hatches a plot to photograph her in the act but ends up falling for her — much to the chagrin of her boyfriend, lawyer François Durnais.
Can-Can
Conductor
Parisian nightclub owner Simone Pistache is known for her performances of the can-can, which attracts the ire of the self-righteous Judge Philipe Forrestier. He hatches a plot to photograph her in the act but ends up falling for her — much to the chagrin of her boyfriend, lawyer François Durnais.
Li'l Abner
Original Music Composer
A comedy musical based on the comic strip charcters created by Al Capp. When residents of Dogpatch, USA are notified by the government that they must evacuate because of atomic bomb testing, they try to persuade the government that their town is worth saving. Meanwhile, Earthquake McGoon wants to marry Daisy Mae; Daisy Mae wants to marry Li'l Abner, and Li'l Abner just wants to go fishing.
A Hole in the Head
Original Music Composer
An impractical widower tries to hang onto his Miami hotel and his 12-year-old son.
St. Louis Blues
Music
Will Handy grows up in Memphis with his preacher father and his Aunt Hagar. His father intends for him to use his musical gifts only in church, but he can't stay away from the music of the streets and workers. After he writes a theme song for a local politician, Gogo, a speakeasy singer, convinces Will to be her accompanist. Will is estranged from his father for many years while he writes and publishes many blues songs. At last the family is reunited when Gogo brings them to New York to see Will's music played by a symphony orchestra.
Merry Andrew
Music
When eccentric English teacher Andrew Larabee needs a raise in order for his fiancée to marry him, his interest in archaeology leads him to an ancient statue's burial site. But when he finds a traveling circus directly above the statue's location, he accidentally becomes part of the act. With a newfound passion for performance and an attraction to the beautiful acrobat Selena, Andrew must decide what is truly important to him.
The Girl Most Likely
Music
Dodie dreams of marrying a millionaire so that she can live 'the life'. Buzz, her boyfriend, however, is not rich as he is a salesman for a housing development. He proposes and Dodie accepts. Dodie next meets Pete, who she thinks is rich, but she soon finds out that he is just a boat mechanic. They have fun on their date and Pete proposes and Dodie accepts. Then Dodie meets Neil Patterson who is rich. They go to Mexico on his yacht and have fun on their date. Neil proposes and Dodie accepts. Now she has to choose.
Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank
Music Director
Two of the biggest musical celebrities of the 20th century come together with Christmas songs old and new in this classic holiday special from 1957.
Pal Joey
Other
An opportunistic singer woos a wealthy widow to boost his career.
Pal Joey
Music Arranger
An opportunistic singer woos a wealthy widow to boost his career.
Lisbon
Original Music Composer
For Capt. Robert John Evans, smuggling black-market goods is nothing out of the ordinary. But one day he's hired by Aristides Mavros for a more involved assignment -- sneaking an imprisoned American out of communist-controlled territory. The job seems challenging enough, but when he meets the prisoner's sultry wife, Sylvia, he realizes his mission comes with a startling catch: Not only must he rescue this man, he must bring him back from the dead.
High Society
Orchestrator
Childhood friends Tracy Lord and C.K. Dexter Haven got married and quickly divorced. Now Tracy is about to marry again, this time to a shrewd social-climbing businessman. C.K. still loves her. Spy magazine blackmails Tracy's family by threatening to reveal her playboy father's exploits if not allowed to cover the wedding. A remake of the 1940 rom com The Philadelphia Story.
Johnny Concho
Music
In Johnny Concho, Frank Sinatra plays a man who goes from the town bully to town coward!
Carousel
Orchestrator
Billy Bigelow has been dead for 15 years. Now outside the pearly gates, he long ago waived his right to go back to Earth for a day. He has heard that there is a problem with his family: namely with his wife Julie Bigelow, née Jordan, and his child he hasn't met. He would now like to head back to Earth to assist in rectifying the problem; but before he may go, he has to get permission from the gatekeeper by telling him his story. Adapted from the Rodgers and Hammerstein hit Broadway musical.
Guys and Dolls
Orchestrator
Gambler Nathan Detroit has few options for the location of his big craps game. Needing $1,000 to pay a garage owner to host the game, Nathan bets Sky Masterson that Sky cannot get virtuous Sarah Brown out on a date. Despite some resistance, Sky negotiates a date with her in exchange for bringing people into her mission. Meanwhile, Nathan's longtime fiancée, Adelaide, wants him to go legit and marry her.
Flame of the Islands
Original Music Composer
A café singer buys a gambling casino and several men fall in love with her.
Our Town
Music Director
Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century. People grow up, get married, live, and die. Milk and the newspaper get delivered every morning, and nobody locks their front doors. This musicalization of Thornton Wilder's classic play stars Frank Sinatra who introduces the song, "Love and Marriage," which would go on to be immortalized as the theme song to the sitcom Married with Children.
Satins and Spurs
Music Arranger
A rodeo performer at a show in Madison Square Garden falls for a handsome photographer who's been assigned to do a story on the show for Life Magazine.
The Blue Gardenia
Music Arranger
A telephone operator ends up drunk and at the mercy of a cad in his apartment. The next morning she wakes up with a hangover and the terrible fear she may be a murderess.