Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett (June 15, 1894 – August 18, 1981) was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers.[1]
Robert Russell Bennett
June 15, 1894
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
August 18, 1981 (aged 87)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Classical
Composer, arranger
Piano, violin, trumpet
In 1957 and 2008, Bennett received special Tony Awards recognizing his orchestrations for Broadway shows. Early in his career, he was often billed as Russell Bennett.
Later years and legacy[edit]
In later years, Bennett again developed major health problems. "He never talked about it, but always showed joy," Boudreau states. "It wasn't just a business relationship we had, it was more than just music. We were pals, and he would treat me as a son."
Bennett did not slow his output, creating original works for the nation's bicentennial celebrations and accepting commissions from a variety of sources, including a Presbyterian church in Florida, for which he accepted only a modest fee.
Awards and honors[edit]
The Tony Award for orchestrations has only existed since 1997; Bennett was given a Special Tony Award in 1957 and again in 2008 "in recognition of his historic contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations, as represented on Broadway this season by Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific."[11] Other honors have included his Oscar for the film Oklahoma!, a 1962 Emmy award,[12] television's Christopher Award in 1960, the City of New York's Handel Medallion in 1967, Los Angeles's honorary Scroll in 1979, and an honorary doctorate from Franklin and Marshall College in 1965.
Bennett was the first president of the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers (ASMAC).[13]