Biography

A versatile, accomplished and yet often times a rather underrated composer, conductor and orchestrator, Robert O. Ragland remained one of the busiest film composers in the motion picture industry. Originally from Chicago, Ragland gave up a comfortable executive position in advertising to gamble on his musical talents in Hollywood. Since that decision was made in 1968, Ragland made his impressive presence known in the film community by scoring over sixty feature motion pictures and television specials in a span of over forty years.

Ragland first became interested in music by playing the piano at the age of five. During his school years, Ragland both performed and organized dance bands. After serving in the U.S. Navy for several years, Ragland attended and graduated with a business degree from Northwestern University. He then served as a musical arranger for the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra and also attained further degrees in music from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago (Bachelors and Masters in Music) and later attended the Academy of Music in Vienna (Doctorates in Composition, Conducting and Piano).

Upon the death of Tommy Dorsey, Ragland officially left the music business for a career in advertising. However his interest in music eventually overwhelmed him as did his urge to write music for motion pictures. Ragland came out to California in 1969 to start his new career. In 1972, Ragland married Martha Montgomery Newman, following the death of her longtime husband, nine time Oscar winning film composer Alfred Newman.

A handful of Ragland's scores for films including "Seven Alone", "Pony Express Rider", "Grizzly", "Q: The Winged Serpent", "10 to Midnight", "A Time to Die" (which Ragland collaborated with the world renowned Ennio Morricone), "The Supernaturals", "Messenger of Death", "Plato's Run", "Top of the World" and the critically acclaimed award winning "Downtown: A Street Tale" are favorites to music lovers and have been well received by audiences worldwide. Ragland also composed music for such television shows including "Barnaby Jones", "The Streets of San Francisco", "Wonder Woman" and "Tarzan".

Outside of the film industry, Ragland conducted many of the most famous orchestras of the world including those in London, Moscow, Vienna, Rome and Toronto. He has composed 15 symphonies, an oratorio "St. Birgitta", a choral mass, 4 string quartets, 5 violin sonatas and a handful of chamber and vocal works.

In his later years, Ragland also conducted the music for many live awards shows including the Oscars and the Emmys. Ragland passed away at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center in April, 2012 after being retired from the industry for seven years. Since his passing however, Ragland's work has resurfaced on CD and MP3 releases to a new generation of music lovers.
- IMDb mini biography by: FilmRegionsIntl@gmail.com