Biography

Larry Adler

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Larry Adler was born on February 10, 1914 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Genevieve (1953), The Hellions (1961) and The House in the Woods (1957). He was married to Sally Irene Cline and Eileen Walser. He died on August 6, 2001 in Lambeth, London, England, UK.

When he was asked to do the score for Genevieve his agent asked for 750 pounds but was told the studio couldn't afford that much and instead offered him 2.5% of the profits. The agent tried to convince him to decline saying this film was intended to be a 'quota' film which would probably never make back its cost in takings. He decided to take the chance having liked what he had seen of the work thus far and as a result, within four weeks it made back the costs and he found himself able to pay to send his children through college with the money he made from the movie.
Although both of his trials for having alleged Communist ties ended in hung juries, Adler's U.S. engagements dried up virtually overnight. Soon thereafter, he went into self-imposed exile in England, and never returned to America permanently again.
Despite his self-imposed exile, he remained an American citizen, and turned down a knighthood for that reason.
Adler became personally involved with Ingrid Bergman during one of his USO tours.
Maurice Ravel gave Adler free rights to perform a cut version of "Bolero" in any medium he chose.

[on his self-imposed exile] England has a sense of justice and fair play that I hope will one day become prevalent in America, as well. Old friends tell me things have changed in America, but I am afraid they will have to change a good deal more before I decide to return.
If I were dictator of the world my first act would be to forbid Bob Dylan from playing the mouth organ! God, I think he's bad!
[on Ira Gershwin] When Paul Draper and I were starting out on our first concert tour - I was to play, and he to dance - I was living out in California, about three blocks away from Ira. The day I was to leave by train to meet Paul in Denver for our first engagement, I was pretty nervous, as you can imagine. The doorbell rang. It was Ira. he handed me a package, In it was some formal dresswear. Shirts, collars, bow ties, studs, waistcoats. He said, 'Larry, these belonged to George. You and he wore the same sizes, so I thought they might bring you some luck tonight'. The guy is some sort of angel.
I was at a party at Ingrid Bergman's house and Jean Renoir and Alfred Hitchcock were there. Nobody name-drops like me!

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