Ernest Gold

Ernest Gold (1921-1999) was an Austrian-American composer, most noted for his work on the film Exodus in 1960.

He was born Ernest Sigmund Goldner to a musical family in Vienna and had learned to read music before he could read words. He moved to America in 1938 to escape the Nazis, first living in New York, playing music and writing popular songs.

In 1945, he moved to Hollywood to write film scores, and in 1960 won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Score for 1959’s On The Beach. He was subsequently nominated for Best Scores for Exodus, 1960, and The Secret of Santa Vittoria, 1969, for which he also won a nomination for Best Song,

He also wrote music for television, a Broadway musical, I’m Solomon, and in his later years was the musical director of the Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra. He was the first composer to be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

From 1950 to 1969 he was married to actress and singer Marni Nixon, with whom he had three children, and from 1975 until his death to Jan Keller Gold. He died of a stroke in 1999.