SurfaceUnits
05-27-08, 11:33 PM
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Earle H. Hagen, who co-wrote the jazz classic "Harlem Nocturne" and composed memorable themes for "The Andy Griffith Show," "I Spy," "The Mod Squad" and other TV shows, died Monday. He was 88.
"The music just flowed from him," wife Laura said of composer Earle Hagen.
Hagen, who is heard whistling the folksy tune for "The Andy Griffith Show," died at his home in Rancho Mirage, his wife, Laura, said Tuesday. He had been in ill health for several months.
During his long musical career, Hagen performed with the top bands of the swing era, composed for movies and television, and wrote one of the first textbooks on movie composing.
He and Dick Rogers were nominated for an Academy Award for best music scoring for the 1960 Marilyn Monroe movie "Let's Make Love."
For television, he composed original music for more than 3,000 episodes, pilots and TV movies, including theme songs for "That Girl," "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C."
"He loved it," his wife said. "The music just flowed from him, and he would take off one hat and put on another and go on to the next show."
Hagen enjoyed the immediacy of the small screen, he told the American Society of Musicians Arrangers & Composers in 2000.
"The music just flowed from him," wife Laura said of composer Earle Hagen.
Hagen, who is heard whistling the folksy tune for "The Andy Griffith Show," died at his home in Rancho Mirage, his wife, Laura, said Tuesday. He had been in ill health for several months.
During his long musical career, Hagen performed with the top bands of the swing era, composed for movies and television, and wrote one of the first textbooks on movie composing.
He and Dick Rogers were nominated for an Academy Award for best music scoring for the 1960 Marilyn Monroe movie "Let's Make Love."
For television, he composed original music for more than 3,000 episodes, pilots and TV movies, including theme songs for "That Girl," "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C."
"He loved it," his wife said. "The music just flowed from him, and he would take off one hat and put on another and go on to the next show."
Hagen enjoyed the immediacy of the small screen, he told the American Society of Musicians Arrangers & Composers in 2000.