Morton Gould (December 10, 1913February 21, 1996) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist. Biography Morton Gould was born in Richmond Hill, New York, United States. He was recognized early as a child prodigy with abilities in improvisation and composition. His first composition was published at age six. Gould studied at the Institute of Musical Art in New York. His most important teachers were Abby Whiteside and Vincent Jones. During the Depression, Gould, while a teenager, worked in New York City playing piano in movie theaters, as well as with vaudeville acts. When Radio City Music Hall opened, Gould was hired as the staff pianist. By 1935, he was conducting and arranging orchestral programs for New York's WOR radio station, where he reached a national audience via the Mutual Broadcasting System, combining popular programming with classical music. In 1936, Gould married Shirley Uzin, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1943. In the following year, Gould married Shirley Bank. This marriage too ended in divorce. Gould led the orchestra for The Jack Pearl Show, which was broadcast on NBC in the 1930s. In the 1940s, Gould appeared on the Cresta Blanca Carnival radio program, Keep 'Em Rolling, and Major Bowes' Shower of Stars, as well as The Chrysler Hour on CBS where he reached an audience of millions. In 1942, he composed music for the short film Ring of Steel, directed by Garson Kanin and produced by the Film Unit of the U.S. Office for Emergency Management. Gould had four children. On 16 February 1945, Gould's son Eric was born. Gould's son David was born on 2 March 1947. Gould's first daughter, Abby, was born on 3 February 1950, and, on 21 December 1954, his daughter Deborah was born. Gould composed Broadway scores such as Billion Dollar Baby and Arms and the Girl; film music such as Delightfully Dangerous, Cinerama Holiday, Windjammer, and In Search of the Castaways; music for television series such as World War One and the miniseries Holocaust; and ballet scores including Interplay, Fall River Legend, and I'm Old Fashioned. Gould's music, commissioned by symphony orchestras all over the United States, was also commissioned by the Library of Congress, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the American Ballet Theatre, and the New York City Ballet. His ability to seamlessly combine multiple musical genres into formal classical structure, while maintaining their distinctive elements, was unsurpassed, and