Ray Heindorf

Ray Heindorf (August 25, 1908 - February 2, 1980) was an American songwriter, composer, conductor, and arranger. Born in Haverstraw, New York, Heindorf worked as a pianist in the movie house in Mechanicville in his early teens. In 1928, he moved to New York City, where he worked as a musical arranger before heading to Hollywood. He landed his first orchestration job at MGM, where he worked on Hollywood Revue of 1929, then went on the road playing... more

Ray Heindorf (August 25, 1908 - February 2, 1980) was an American songwriter, composer, conductor, and arranger. Born in Haverstraw, New York, Heindorf worked as a pianist in the movie house in Mechanicville in his early teens. In 1928, he moved to New York City, where he worked as a musical arranger before heading to Hollywood. He landed his first orchestration job at MGM, where he worked on Hollywood Revue of 1929, then went on the road playing piano for Lupe Velez . After completing this engagement, he joined Warner Bros., composing and/or arranging and conducting music exclusively for the studio for nearly forty years. Heindorf, along with Georgie Stoll at MGM, were jazz aficionados well known in the black entertainment community for employing minority musicians in their studio music departments. In such a long and distinguished career, it is pointless to single out representative highlights; however, his tasteful musical direction of Judy Garland's 1954 comeback A Star is Born... less