The Resume

(May 10, 1888-December 28, 1971)
Born in Vienna, Austria
Film composer
Won Oscars for Best Original Score for 'The Informer' (1935), 'Now, Voyager' (1942) and 'Since You Went Away' (1944)
Other scores included 'Symphony of Six Million' (1932), 'King Kong' (1933), 'Little Women' (1933), 'Of Human Bondage' (1934), 'A Star Is Born' (1937), 'Jezebel' (1938), 'Dark Victory' (1939), 'Dodge City' (1939), 'Gone with the Wind' (1939), 'The Letter' (1940), 'Sargeant York' (1941), 'Casablanca' (1942), 'The Big Sleep' (1946), 'Life with Father' (1947), 'Johnny Belinda' (1948), 'The Glass Menagerie' (1950), 'The Caine Mutiny' (1954), 'The Searchers' (1956), 'A Summer Place' (1959) and 'Those Calloways' (1965)
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1995)

Why he might be annoying:

He was married four times, divorced three times.
He took benzedrine to stay up for 20-hour stretches to finish the score for 'Gone with the Wind.'
Detractors accused him of frequently resorting to 'Mickey Mousing' -- having the music mimic the onscreen action, as in a cartoon.

Why he might not be annoying:

He received lessons in piano from Johannes Brahms and in conducting from Gustav Mahler.
He completed the Imperial Academy of Music's four-year course of study in a single year.
With fellow movie composers Carl Stalling and Scott Bradley, he created the click track to keep scores in synch with the films.
He was incredibly prolific, scoring 36 films in 1934 and 37 in 1935.
His score for 'King Kong' was such a departure from standard Hollywood composing that Oscar Levant called it 'a symphony accompanied by a movie.'
Bette Davis (who starred in 18 films that he scored) said, 'Max understood more about drama than any of us.'

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• AFI's 100 Years of Film's 25 Greatest Film Scores [Composers] (Ranked: 2)
• AFI's 100 Years of Film's 25 Greatest Film Scores [Composers] (Ranked: 13)
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 50]
• Diseased Initials
• Film Composers
• Gone With the Wind [1939]
• I Abused Amphetamines
• I am from Vienna, Austria
• I am on a U.S. Postage Stamp [R-T]
• I Attended the Atlanta Premiere of ‘Gone With the Wind’ [December 15, 1939]
• I Died in 1971 (Ranked: 83)
• I Have a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame[R-T]
• I'm Buried at Forest Lawn Glendale Cemetery [Calif]
• Look at Me, I'm Postage
• Male Cigar Smokers
• Profiles 34751-35000 (Ranked: 34949)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 9 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 6 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying