Marlin Skiles

Marlin Skiles
BornDecember 17, 1906
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States
DiedMay 1, 1981(1981-05-01) (aged 74)
San Diego, California
United States
Other nameMarlin Henderson Skiles
OccupationComposer
Years active1934–1971 (film)

Marlin Skiles (December 17, 1906 – May 1, 1981) was an American composer of film and television scores.[1]

Early years

Pianist, arranger and composer Skiles was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in December 1906. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Stiles.[2] He studied music at his local conservatory, later perfecting his training under Ernst Toch in Los Angeles. He graduated from Harrisburg Technical High School in 1925.[2]

Career

Skiles began his career when he was 17 years old.[2] By the 1920s, he was employed as a pianist, arranger and orchestrator with big name dance bands like those of Paul Whiteman and Irving Aaronson and His Commanders. In Hollywood from 1932, he signed with Republic Pictures in 1943[3] was under contract there and at Columbia Pictures (1944–1948), often writing incidental music for second features. He occasionally composed original soundtracks for better productions, like A Thousand and One Nights (1945) or Dead Reckoning (1946). Skiles served as musical director for Columbia's mega-hit Gilda (1946), starring Rita Hayworth in her most famous role. He became a member of ASCAP that same year. Skiles worked as a free-lancer from the 1950s and retired in 1971.

Skiles and his orchestra provided music for the CBS radio program Crime Correspondent,[4] and he was music director for the television series Death Valley Days.[5]

Personal life and death

Skiles married singer and actress Olive Jones, whose stage name was Olive Cromwell, on July 11, 1936, in Riverside, California.[6] He died of cancer complications on May 1, 1981, in Rancho Bernardo, San Diego, California, aged 75.[5]

Partial filmography

References

  1. ↑ Gevinson p.350
  2. 1 2 3 Shue, Clyde (June 8, 1952). "Skiles Climbed Scales To Musical Fame". Sunday Patriot-News. Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. p. 21. Retrieved March 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Marlin Skiles". The Seattle Star. September 13, 1943. p. 12. Retrieved March 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Radio and Television: C. B. S. Video Network to Offer Tuesdays 'Actor's Studio,' Dropped by A. B. C.". The New York Times. October 29, 1949. p. 28. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
  5. 1 2 "Marlin Skiles". Times-Advocate. California, Escondido. May 4, 1981. p. B 8. Retrieved March 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Marlin Skiles Wedded July 11". The Evening News. Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. July 21, 1936. p. 2. Retrieved March 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.

Bibliography

  • Alan Gevinson. Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960. University of California Press, 1997.
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