André Previn

Born on April 6, 1929 into a Jewish family,  André Previn from Berlin  was expelled from the conservatory of his hometown in 1938, after the rise of the Nazi party. His family were forced to emigrate, first to Paris, and a year later to Los Angeles, in the United States. Fascinated with jazz, he began to excel as a pianist, and accepted a contract for the music department of Metro Goldwyn Mayer, arranging soundtracks, or conducting the orchestra.

Particularly noteworthy are his works directed by  Billy Wilder , with whom he worked on  One, Two, Three ,  Kiss Me, Silly ,  On a Silver Platter , and  Sweet Irma, with which he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Soundtrack, since which was based on a French theater musical. He also won the gold statuette for his impressive work in  Gigi ,  Porgy and Bess  and  My Fair Lady , and was nominated nine other times, for  Three Little Words ,  Kiss Me Kate ,  It’s Always Nice Weather ,  The Phone Rings , The fire and the word ,  Pepe ,  Any day in any corner ,  Millie, a modern girl , and  Jesus Christ Superstar . 

He combined his compositions for the big screen with his career as a conductor. He conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic, succeeding John Barbirolli in 1967 at the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and a year later he was appointed Principal Conductor of the London Symphony. He also occasionally commanded the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic of London and the Oslo Philharmonic. He was the author of two operas,  Brief Encounter , based on the  David Lean film , and  A Streetcar Named Desire , based on the play by  Tennessee Williams . For Broadway he wrote with  Alan Jay Lerner  the musical “Coco”, based on the life of Coco Chanel, whom he played. Katharine Hepburn .

Divorced from Betty Bennett, with whom he had two children, he was together with the lyricist and singer Dory Previn, Heather Mary Sneddon, the violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and also the actress  Mia Farrow , which had a lot of echo in the Heart magazines. With her he had three other biological children and adopted three more from her, including the Korean  Soon-Yi Previn , from whom he later distanced himself from her, when she began her scandalous affair with  Woody Allen .