Marlin Skiles


Marlin Skiles was an American composer of film and television scores. Pianist, arranger and composer Skiles was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in December 1906. He studied music at his local conservatory, later perfecting his training under Ernst Toch in Los Angeles. By the 1920s, he was employed as a pianist, arranger and orchestrator with big name dance bands like those of Paul Whiteman and Irving Aaronson and His Commanders. In Hollywood from 1932, he was under contract at Republic and Columbia, often writing incidental music for second features. He occasionally composed original soundtracks for better productions, like A Thousand and One Nights or Dead Reckoning. Skiles served as musical director for Columbia's mega-hit Gilda, starring Rita Hayworth in her most famous role. He became a member of ASCAP that same year. Skiles worked as a free-lancer from the 1950s and retired in 1971. From.
Skiles and his orchestra provided music for the CBS radio program Crime Correspondent.

Partial filmography

Tahiti Honey Call of the South Seas The Lady and the Monster A [Thousand and One Nights (1945 film)|A Thousand and One Nights] She Wouldn't Say Yes Rough, Tough and Ready Over 21 Gilda The Walls Came Tumbling Down Gallant Journey Dead Reckoning The Doolins of Oklahoma The Boy from Indiana Flat Top Fort Osage The Rose Bowl Story Aladdin and His Lamp Rodeo Wild Stallion Wagons West The Maze Pride of [the Blue Grass (1954 film)|Pride of the Blue Grass] Sudden Danger Canyon River The [Young Guns (film)|The Young Guns] Calling Homicide My Gun Is Quick The Disembodied Man from God's Country In the Money The Beast of Budapest Cole Younger, Gunfighter Quantrill's Raiders Fort Massacre Queen of Outer Space Joey Ride King of the Wild Stallions The Hypnotic Eye The Deadly Companions Gunfight at Comanche Creek The Crawling Hand The Strangler The [Shepherd of the Hills (1964 film)|The Shepherd of the Hills] Indian Paint Space Probe Taurus The Violent Ones Dayton's Devils