Biography

Mort Stevens got his start in the 1950s as Sammy Davis Jr.'s arranger and conductor. He then went into composing various scores for network television, as well as becoming music supervisor for CBS in the 1960s. His many fine television scores include, "Hawaii Five-O" (Emmy winner), "Police Woman" and "Gunsmoke." He also scored some mini-series, including, "Masada" (1981) and "Wheels" (1978) (he received Emmy nominations for his work on these two productions). Just before his passing in November, 1991, he was arranging music for John Williams and the Boston Pops and was Music Director for Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli and Dean Martin concerts in the late 1980s. His contribution to television music is considered some of the finest and only lets one appreciate the art all the more.
- IMDb mini biography by: Glenn R. Warren

Mort's final writing for the theme to the television series, "Hawaii Five-O" took only eleven minutes to complete. It is one of the best known themes in television history. Of all of the many network television scores he has written, Mort's favorite was, "Hawaii Five-O." He also won an Emmy Award for the "Five-O" episode, "Hookman" from the opening episode of the sixth season - (1973).

The "CBS Special Presentation" jingle of the 1970's was actually edited down from the opening credits music to the second "Call To Danger" pilot from 1968. Often it's origins are confused since a nearly identical re-recording was done for the "Hawaii Five-0" album released on the Capitol Records label in 1969. To further confuse things, parts of cues from the "Call to Danger" pilot, were tracked into a small number of episodes of "Hawaii Five-0". The "Call to Danger" music edit and with it the famous "CBS Special Presentation" logo, were retired in 1990.

Former student of Jerry Goldsmith.