Leonard Rosenman died on March 4, 2008 of a heart attack at his home at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.
Leonard Rosenman was the composer who created the score for the unaired Falcon Crest pilot "
The Vintage Years".
He was born in Brooklyn on Sept. 7, 1924.
After service in the Pacific with the Army Air Forces in World War II, he earned a bachelor's degree in music from the University of California, Berkeley.
He also studied composition with Schoenburg, Roger Sessions and Luigi Dallapiccola.
Mr. Rosenman also has written incidental music for such series as "The Defenders", "The Twilight Zone", "Gibbsville" and "Marcus Welby M.D."
In his 70s Rosenman was diagnosed with Frontotemporal dementia, a degenerative brain condition with symptoms similar to Alzheimer's disease.
Leonard Rosenman enjoyed astronomy. For his observing he used a 14-inch computerized telescope which he had set up at his home in the Hollywood Hills. The telescope was a Celestron Compustar C-14 that was retrofited by LA Optical CO. in about 1990.
He earned two Academy Awards, Oscars for musical adaption: for Barry Lyndon (1975) which drew on music by Handel, Schubert and others and Bound for Glory (1976), based on Woody Guthrie songs.
- Barry Lyndon (1975) Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation
- Bound for Glory (1976) for Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score
He also received two Emmy Awards:
- Sybil (1976) for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Special (Dramatic Underscore) with Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman.
- Friendly Fire (1979) for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series or a Special
Rosenman with James Dean on the Warner Bros. lot in 1955
Did you know that there's a restaurant in Oslo, Norway that uses the name "Falcon Crest Wine & Dine"?
