In its day, Laura was the sin qua non of stylish murder mysteries. Before its day, it was almost never made. In 1944, director Otto Preminger was ordered by his bosses at 20th Century Fox to take over the troubled production and one of the first things he did was commission a new score. He asked David Raksin (1912-2004), the one-time student of Arnold Schoenberg and protégé of Alfred Newman, to take the weekend to come up with a suitably haunting love theme. Raksin came back Monday with the Laura theme and Preminger not only liked it, he used it extensively throughout the movie as the idee fixe for the mysterious title character. Indeed, under the musical supervision of Emil Newman, the "Laura theme became virtually the only music used in the film, appearing in numerous orchestrations and arrangements throughout the movie. When it was released, the film was a moderate success, but the Laura theme, with lyrics added by Johnny Mercer, became one of the most popular movie themes of all time. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide
