Charles Fox
Composer
About This Interview
Charles Fox was interviewed for three-and-a-half hours in Encino, CA. Fox talked about his musical education, which included studying with Nadia Boulanger in Paris from 1959-61. He spoke about breaking into composing for television, writing transition material for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as well as the bold and energetic theme song for ABC's Wide World of Sports. He spoke in great detail about Love American Style, a series for which he wrote the theme song and scored music for the entire series run. He described other series for which he both scored the theme song and created libraries for track music. He described his work on Laverne & Shirley, including details about the pilot presentation and the creation of the theme song and main title. Additionally he talked about his work on the series: Happy Days, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat, and The Paper Chase. He also discussed his work in television movies (including Victory at Entebbe) and feature films (including The Other Side of the Mountain and Foul Play ), as well as composing other popular songs. B-roll consisted of Fox performing a medley of his television theme songs as well as "Killing Me Softly With His Song." The interview was conducted by Karen Herman on June 29, 2004.
Related To This Video
Resources
Autobiography: Killing Me Softly: My Life in Music
YouTube video player - HTML5 compatible.
Highlights
Charles Fox on composing the theme to ABC's Wide World of Sports
Clip begins at: 12:20, Duration: 07m 30s
Charles Fox on scoring the music for the pilot for Happy Days (on Love, American Style) and later composing for the Happy Days series
Clip begins at: 19:22, Duration: 08m 10s
Charles Fox on composing the theme for Angie
Clip begins at: 09:26, Duration: 01m 42s
Charles Fox on composing for the feature films Foul Play, 9 to 5, among others; on working with Colin Higgins, on writing the music for Killing Me Softly With His Song, which won him and lyricist Norman Gimbel a Grammy Award; on his then-current projects; on his thoughts about how the business has changed
Clip begins at: 07:15
Charles Fox plays a piano medley of some of his compositions ( Love American Style, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Angie, Hogan Family, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat); Killing Me Softly with His Song
Clip begins at: 21:25
Interview
- Part 1
- On his formative years and breaking into television, writing transition music for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Clip begins at: 0:0 - Part 2
- On his energetic theme song for ABC's Wide World of Sports; on his work for Laverne & Shirley including details about the pilot presentation and the creation of the theme song and main title.
Clip begins at: 0:0 - Part 3
- On his work on the theme songs and music libraries of Love, American Style and Happy Days
Clip begins at: 0:0 - Part 4
- On his work on the series The Bugaloos, Me and the Chimp, Angie, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat, and The Paper Chase
Clip begins at: 0:0 - Part 5
- On his work on George Burns Comedy Week; on his work on The Hogan Family; on his work in game shows for Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, in television movies including Victory at Entebbe, My Father's House, A Rainbow, and feature films including The Other Side of the Mountain
Clip begins at: 0:0 - Part 6
- On working with director Lamont Johnson; on some of the work he did on TV movies; on composing for the television movie Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232
Clip begins at: 0:0 - On composing for the feature films Foul Play, 9 to 5, among others; on working with Colin Higgins, on writing the music for Killing Me Softly With His Song, which won him and lyricist Norman Gimbel a Grammy Award; on his then-current projects; on his thoughts about how the business has changed
Clip begins at: 07:15 - Part 7
- On his musical style; on the business of composing for film and television; on his advice to aspiring composers; on his career highlights; on collaborating with lyricist Norman Gimbel; on how he would like to be remembered
Clip begins at: 0:0 - B-roll piano medley of some of his compositions (Love American Style, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Angie, Hogan Family, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat); Killing Me Softly with His Song
Clip begins at: 21:25
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The young lady interviewing this great pop culture composers is a bit too assertive in her assumptions... She clearly believes everything she reads. I find her rather rude.
"Wonder Woman." One of the best straight-out heroic theme songs on TV ever.
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