Nicholas Brodszky

• Born: April 20, 1905, Odessa, Russia
• Died: December 24, 1958, Hollywood, CA
• Active: '30s, '40s, '50s
• Genres: Soundtrack

Biography

Composer Nicholas Brodszky enjoyed a career that took him from Odessa, Russia, to Germany, where he joined the film industry in 1931. After several years' success in Germany and then Austria -- always keeping ahead of the rising Nazi Party -- he emigrated to England at the end of the 1930s. He saw success with such films as French Without Tears and wrote the music for such highly regarded wartime pictures as The Way to the Stars, before emigrating to America at the end of the 1940s. His biggest popular success as a songwriter was "Be My Love," written for the movie The Toast of New Orleans, which became the signature song for Mario Lanza and a perennially popular song, in addition to earning Brodszky the first of five Academy Award nominations. He continued working well into the late '50s in Hollywood, and remained busy long after musicals had begun to fall out of favor, until his death at the end of 1958. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide