Lee Holdridge
Lee Elwood Holdridge (born March 3, 1944) is an American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. An 18-time Emmy Award nominee, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two News and Documentary Emmy Awards, and one Sports Emmy Award. He has also been nominated for two Grammy Awards.
Lee Holdridge
- Name
- Lee Holdridge
- Birth Name
- Lee Elwood Holdridge
- Born
- 3 March 1944
- Birthplace
- Port-au-Prince, Haiti
- Occupation
- * Composer
- Spouse
- Elisa Justice
- Full name
- Lee Elwood Holdridge.
- Nationality
- United States and Haiti.
- Fields
- opera.
- Honours
- Emmy Award, ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score), Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition and Sports Emmy Awards.
- Languages
- English.
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Documentary summary
Lee Elwood Holdridge (born March 3, 1944) is an American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. An 18-time Emmy Award nominee, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two News and Documentary Emmy Awards, and one Sports Emmy Award. He has also been nominated for two Grammy Awards.
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bnf · gnd · loc · wikidata · Q1449569 · wikipedia · Lee Holdridge
In this article
Biography
Biography
Holdridge worked across composer, film score composer, conductor, orchestrator and musician and 1 further recorded occupations. The registers place that work in opera. This article rests on 100 catalogued compositions, 21 issued recordings and 10 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.
The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are opera. Distinctions recorded are Emmy Award, ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Lee Holdridge • Birth Name — Lee Elwood Holdridge • Born — 3 March 1944 • Birthplace — Port-au-Prince, Haiti • Occupation — * Composer • Conductor • Orchestrator • Spouse — Elisa Justice • Father — Leslie Holdridge • Website — http: www.leeholdridge.com/
Life and career
Life and career
Holdridge was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, of a Puerto Rican mother and an American father, Leslie Holdridge, a botanist and climatologist. While living in Costa Rica, at age ten, he studied the violin with Hugo Mariani, who was at the time the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. He then moved to Boston, where he finished high school and studied composition with Henry Lasker. Later in New York he had numerous study consultations with composer Nicolas Flagello as well as composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim. The move to New York City enabled Holdridge to continue his music studies and begin his career as a professional composer. There, he composed chamber works, rock pieces, songs, theater music and background scores for short films, and eventually came to Neil Diamond's notice. Diamond then brought Holdridge with him to Los Angeles to write arrangements for his forthcoming albums. After several gold and platinum hits, the two collaborated on the Grammy Award winning score for producer/director Hall Bartlett's film adaptation of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Neil Diamond sued Bartlett for cutting much of his music from the film. Diamond was also against sharing musical credit with Holdridge; however, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences ruled in Holdridge's favor. Bartlett was ordered to reinstate the five minutes of Diamond's music score and three of his songs, "Anthem", "Prologue", and "Dear Father", and that the onscreen credits were to state "Music and songs by Neil Diamond", "Background score composed and adapted by Neil Diamond and Lee Holdridge", and "Music supervision by Tom Catalano". Holdridge has composed and orchestrated for many films, including: • Jeremy (1973) • Forever Young, Forever Free (1975) • Mustang Country (1976) • The Pack (1977) • The Other Side of the Mountain Part 2 (1978) • Like Mom, Like Me (1978) • Moment by Moment (1978) • Tilt (1979) • French Postcards (1979) • American Pop (1981) • The Day the Loving Stopped (1981) • The Beastmaster (1982) • Mr. Mom (1983) • Splash (1984) • Micki & Maude (1984) • Transylvania 6-5000 (1985) • The Men's Club (1986) • A Tiger's Tale (1987) • Big Business (1988) • Old Gringo (1989) • The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996) • Into Thin Air: Death on Everest (1997) • The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue (1998) • Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000) • Puerto Vallarta Squeeze (2004) • Brothers at War (2009). • It Is No Dream (2012) • Brothers After War (2023) He composed for several television series, including: • Sara • East of Eden • Eight is Enough • I'll Take Manhattan • Atomic Train • The Mists of Avalon • American Family • The Brooke Ellison Story • Moonlighting • Beauty and the Beast • 10.5 • When Calls the Heart
Concert works
Concert works
Holdridge has composed numerous concert works including: • Concerto No. 3 for Violin and Orchestra • Fantasy Chorale for Orchestra and Chorus • Concertino for Guitar and Orchestra • Scenes of Summer • Two Lyric Pieces for Solo Violin, Strings and Harp • Ode to Orion • The Golden Land • Jefferson Tribute, for narrator and orchestra. • Lazarus and His Beloved, opera and orchestral suite. • Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2 • Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra • Concertino for Violoncello and Strings • Serenade for Oboe and Strings • Ballet Fantasy for Strings and Harp • Elegy for Harp and Strings • Hymns Triumphant 1 and 2, suites for chorus and orchestra. • Sonnet for soprano and chamber orchestra. • Dulce Rosa an opera based on an Isabel Allende short story, premiered in 2013. • Trinity for the Joffrey Ballet co-authored with Alan Raph. • Journey to Cordoba, Concierto Para Mendez and Tanis in America, one act operas.
Personal life
Personal life
Holdridge is married to ex-ballet dancer Elisa Justice. She is western region audition co-director of the Metropolitan Opera National Council. She also has hosted her own classical music radio show called "Eclectic Classics" and has co-produced a new album and documentary with Milt Okun called Great Voices Sing John Denver. She won a "Best Producer" award for a documentary at the Madrid International Film Festival.
Life and work
Life and work
Lee Holdridge was born on 3 March 1944 in Port-au-Prince. Holdridge held the nationality of United States and Haiti. Recorded father: Leslie Holdridge. Holdridge worked as composer, film score composer, conductor and orchestrator, and the authority record catalogues a further 2 occupations under the same name, among them musician and bandleader. The fields Holdridge worked in include opera. Holdridge worked in English.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1944–2015
The full dated record · 10 entries
1944
Lee Holdridge born at Port-au-Prince.
1988
Receives ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards.
1988
Receives Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score).
1988
Receives News and Documentary Emmy Awards.
1989
Receives Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.
1991
Receives News and Documentary Emmy Awards.
1998
Receives Sports Emmy Awards.
2000
Receives Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition.
2005
Receives Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition.
2015
Receives ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards.
Works documented in more than one form
Catalogued output
Works documented in more than one form
6 titles are catalogued under more than one form, which is to say the registers hold them both as a work and as a distinct object, score, recording or edition. Where a title is documented in several forms the evidence behind it is correspondingly wider, and the article treats those forms as separate records of the same work rather than as separate works. 10.5, dated 2004 — catalogued as television film, miniseries and television series season. East of Eden, dated 1981 — catalogued as television program, miniseries and television series.
Atomic Train
1999 — catalogued as television film and miniseries
Heidi
1993 — catalogued as television film and miniseries
Family Album
1994 — catalogued as television film and miniseries
Michener's Texas
1994 — catalogued as television film and miniseries
Compositions, 1981–2001
Catalogued output
Compositions, 1981–2001
The entries below are works composed by the subject, as the institutional registers catalogue them; later performances and commercial recordings of the same music are listed separately. The run opens with East of Eden — 7 catalogued parts and closes with The Mists of Avalon. They belong to a run of 90 titles in all, from 1981 to 2001.
2 compositions carry dates between 1981 and 2001
East of Eden — 7 catalogued parts
1981
The Mists of Avalon
2001
Compositions without a settled date
Catalogued output
Compositions without a settled date
88 further compositions are catalogued under Holdridge's name without a date the collections agree on, which is why they are set apart from the dated run rather than placed in it. A selection is set out below and the complete run may be opened beneath it. Somewhere I Have Never Travelled. Scenes of Summer Suite — 3 catalogued parts. Don't Show Your Love. For Everything You Are. Love Came for Me. She Walks in Beauty. Eight Is Enough. Have a Nice Trip. Maria la O. Angels We Have Heard on High / Hark the Herald Angels Sing / O Come All Ye Faithful.
Into the Light
Fear / The Chase / Vincent to the Rescue
On the Wings of a Dream
Erika With the Windy Yellow Hair
A Hero's Theme / The Legend of Dar
Buffalo Girls (Main Theme)
Flying Away and End Credits
All Systems Go - The Launch
Intimations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood
Malagueña from Andalucia Suite
16 Days of Glory
The Legend of Dar (main Theme)
The complete catalogue · 42
Into the Light
Fear / The Chase / Vincent to the Rescue
On the Wings of a Dream
Erika With the Windy Yellow Hair
A Hero's Theme / The Legend of Dar
Buffalo Girls (Main Theme)
Flying Away and End Credits
All Systems Go - The Launch
Intimations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood
Malagueña from Andalucia Suite
16 Days of Glory
The Legend of Dar (main Theme)
Letters to a Young Poet
Beauty and the Beast (TV Series): Theme
A Love Until the End of Time
A Happy Life
I Will Remember You Still
The First Time I Loved Forever
Beauty and the Beast
Carol for a Christmas Tree
Escape From the Pyramid
Friends of Dar: The Princess Kiri / Kodo, Podo & Rev
Composed on Westminster Bridge
Siempre en mi corazón
Beauty and the Beast: Once Upon a Time in the City of New York Main Title
The Battle on the Pyramid
Among the Clouds
El pueblo del sol
Elegy for Harp and Strings
A Promise Remembered
Christmas Eve, 1913
A Single Night
Once Again, It’s Christmas Time This Year
Instrumental Suite from Indecent Proposal
I Arise From Dreams of Thee
O Joyful Children
Far and Away: The Land Race
My Life for a Song
On Her Own
Riches, Not Gold
Night of Beauty
The Gold and Beyond
Films and moving-image works, 1973–1999
Catalogued output
Films and moving-image works, 1973–1999
These entries are catalogued as moving-image works. The 1990s are the densest part of the run, with 33 titles, and that concentration is a fact about what the registers have catalogued rather than a judgement on the work itself. They belong to a run of 72 titles in all, from 1973 to 2013.
60 films carry dates between 1973 and 1999
The run opens with Jeremy and closes with Replacing Dad
Jeremy
1973
Mustang Country
1976
The Greatest
1977
The Pack
1977
Moment by Moment
1978
Oliver's Story
1978
The Other Side of the Mountain Part 2
1978
French Postcards
1979
Tilt
1979
American Pop
1980
The complete catalogue · 58
60 films carry dates between 1973 and 1999
The run opens with Jeremy and closes with Replacing Dad
Jeremy
1973
Mustang Country
1976
The Greatest
1977
The Pack
1977
Moment by Moment
1978
Oliver's Story
1978
The Other Side of the Mountain Part 2
1978
French Postcards
1979
Tilt
1979
American Pop
1980
The Beastmaster
1982
Mom
1983
Legs
1983
Micki & Maude
1984
Splash
1984
Sylvester
1985
Transylvania 6-5000
1985
The Men's Club
1986
Born in East L.A
1987
Young Harry Houdini
1987
A Tiger's Tale
1987
Walk Like a Man
1987
Big Business
1988
Fatal Judgement
1988
14 Going on 30
1988
A Friendship in Vienna
1988
Old Gringo
1989
Back to Hannibal: The Return of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
1990
Fine Things
1990
The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story
1990
Pastime
1990
Changes
1991
The Giant of Thunder Mountain
1991
Cyborg Agent
1992
Day-O
1992
In the Arms of a Killer
1992
Deadly Matrimony
1992
Torch Song
1993
Freefall
1994
Danielle Steel's A Perfect Stranger
1994
The Yearling
1994
The Whipping Boy
1994
The Tuskegee Airmen
1995
Buffalo Girls
1995
Gunfighter's Moon
1995
Harvest of Fire
1996
The Little Riders
1996
The Twilight of the Golds
1996
Family Plan
1997
Death on Everest
1997
The Long Way Home
1997
The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue
1998
Her Own Rules
1998
Two for Texas
1998
Anya's Bell
1999
Replacing Dad
1999
Films and moving-image works, 2000–2013
Catalogued output
Films and moving-image works, 2000–2013
The 2000s are the densest part of the run, with 5 titles, and that concentration is a fact about what the registers have catalogued rather than a judgement on the work itself.
7 films carry dates between 2000 and 2013
The run opens with Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport and closes with The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport
2000
Almost a Woman
2001
10.5
2004
Korgoth of Barbaria
2006
Brothers at War
2009
Hell and Mr
Fudge
2012
The Pioneers
2013
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards
• Year — Category — Nominated work — Result — Ref. • 1988 — Top TV Series — Moonlighting • 2015 — Top Television Series — When Calls the Heart
International Film Music Critics Association Awards
International Film Music Critics Association Awards
• Year — Category — Nominated work — Result — Ref. • 2009 — Best Original Score for a Documentary Feature — Brothers at War
Online Film & Television Association Awards
Online Film & Television Association Awards
• Year — Category — Nominated work — Result — Ref. • 2002 — Best Music in a Motion Picture or Miniseries — The Mists of Avalon
Films and moving-image works without a settled date
Catalogued output
Films and moving-image works without a settled date
5 further films are catalogued under Holdridge's name without a date the collections agree on, which is why they are set apart from the dated run rather than placed in it.
My Life and Times
Over My Dead Body
Primary material
Recordings and discography
The discography assembled here shows how Holdridge's work has been published in sound, not what Holdridge made. 21 sound issues are catalogued, carrying dates from 1978 to 2022. An issue is a published recording, distinct from the composition it carries, from a printed score of that composition and from any single performance of it; none of the entries below is counted in the catalogue of compositions above, and several of them carry the same work in different readings. The 1990s are the densest decade of publication, with 9 issues. The performers and issuing labels are as the discographic register states them; where it names no performer the article names none.
East Of Eden - The Motion Picture And Television Music Of Lee Holdridge
2019
The Film Music of Lee Holdridge Volume 5: Buffalo Girls / Gunfighter's Moon
1995
Hymns Triumphant
1994
The Lee Holdridge Collection, Volume 1: The Pilot's Wife / The Tenth Man
2018
Symphonic Hollywood
1991
The Lee Holdridge Collection, Volume 2: Africa / E'Lollipop
2021
One Against The Wind
1993
31 Classic Hymns
Primary material
Documents and archives
institutional register
- Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 13895276t
General reference · Bibliothèque nationale de France
- Discogs authority file 294059
General reference · Discogs
- FAST authority file 110879
General reference · FAST
- GND (German National Library) authority file 134409205
General reference · GND (German National Library)
- IdRef (French universities) authority file 07407038X
General reference · IdRef (French universities)
- ISNI authority file 0000000120189152
General reference · ISNI
reference work
- “Lee Holdridge”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
CableACE Awards
CableACE Awards
• Year — Category — Nominated work — Results — Ref. • 1988 — Original Score — 16 Days of Glory • 1989 — A Friendship in Vienna • 1994 — Heidi
Emmy Awards
Emmy Awards
• Year — Category — Nominated work — Results — Ref. • Primetime Emmy Awards • 1985 — Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics — "Moonlighting" (from Moonlighting) • 1988 — Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music — Beauty and the Beast • Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) — Beauty and the Beast (Episode: "Once Upon a Time in the City of New York") • 1989 — Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics — "The First Time I Loved Forever" (from Beauty and the Beast: A Distant Shore) • 1990 — Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) — Do You Know the Muffin Man? • 1991 — Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music — ABC World of Discovery • 1993 — Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music — Bob • Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) — Call of the Wild • 1995 — Buffalo Girls (for "Part 1") • 1996 — Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special — The Tuskegee Airmen • 1999 — Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Movie (Dramatic Underscore) — Mutiny • 2002 — Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) — The Mists of Avalon (for "Part 1") • Daytime Emmy Awards • 1984 — Special Classification of Outstanding Individual Achievement – Music — Woman to Woman • 2000 — Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series — One Life to Live • 2002 • 2004 • 2005 — Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series • 2006 — Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series • 2007 • 2008 • 2010 • 2012 • Sports Emmy Awards • 1998 — Outstanding Achievement in a Craft: Music Composition/Direction/Lyrics — Atlanta's Olympic Glory • News and Documentary Emmy Awards • 1988 — Outstanding Achievement in a Craft in News and Documentary Programming – Music — The Explorers: A Century of Discovery • 1991 — Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music Composition — ABC World of Discovery (for "Beautiful Killers")
Grammy Awards
Grammy Awards
• Year — Category — Nominated work — Results — Ref. • 1973 — Best Instrumental Arrangement — "Prologue/Crunchy Granola Suite" • 1987 — Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television — "Moonlighting" (from Moonlighting: The Television Soundtrack Album)
Honours and awards
Where the work is held
Honours and awards
They run from 1988 to 2015.
10 honours stand against the name
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards
1988
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)
1988
News and Documentary Emmy Awards
1988
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics
1989
Sports Emmy Awards
1998
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition
2000
Authority records
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Lee Holdridge profile. The New York Times.
- 2.LeeHoldridge.com. Lee Holdridge profile. 2008.
- 3.In Defense of JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL (1973). YouTube. 12 June 2017 cbignore.
- 4.AFI|Catalog.
- 5.Discogs.com
- 6.Canby, Vincent. 'American Pop' Grown-Up Animation. The New York Times. February 13, 1981.
- 7.Profile , KRNV official website; accessed June 16, 2016.
- 8.Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Lee Holdridge.
- 9.National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 34th Daytime Emmy Awards: Nominations. March 18, 2007.
- 10.National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announces the 37th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Award nominations. May 12, 2010.
- 11.Grammy Awards. Lee Holdridge.
- 12.International Film Music Critics Association. 2009 IFMCA Awards. 25 November 2010.
- 13.Online Film & Television Association. 6th Annual TV Awards (2001-02).
Bibliography printed in the source article · 2
- New York Theatre Critics' Reviews: Index, 1940-1960. Original from the University of Michigan.
- Of Love & Hope - Selections Form Beauty and the Beast By Lee Holdridge, Don Davis, Milton Okun, Larry Kenton, Edwin McLean. Published 1990, Cherry Lane Music.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
institutional register
Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 13895276tBibliothèque nationale de France
Secondary witnessinstitutional register
Secondary witnessinstitutional register
Secondary witnessinstitutional register
GND (German National Library) authority file 134409205GND (German National Library)
Secondary witnessinstitutional register
IdRef (French universities) authority file 07407038XIdRef (French universities)
Secondary witnessinstitutional register
Secondary witnessinstitutional register
Library of Congress authority file n83044894Library of Congress
Secondary witnessinstitutional register
MusicBrainz artist record for Lee HoldridgeMusicBrainz
Secondary witness
Every cited source · 11
- 01
Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 13895276t
institutional register · General reference · Bibliothèque nationale de France
Consult the source - 02
- 03
- 04
GND (German National Library) authority file 134409205
institutional register · General reference · GND (German National Library)
Consult the source - 05
IdRef (French universities) authority file 07407038X
institutional register · General reference · IdRef (French universities)
Consult the source - 06
ISNI authority file 0000000120189152
institutional register · General reference · ISNI
Consult the source - 07
Library of Congress authority file n83044894
institutional register · General reference · Library of Congress
Consult the source - 08
MusicBrainz artist record for Lee Holdridge
institutional register · General reference · MusicBrainz
Consult the source - 09
- 10
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1449569: Lee Holdridge
institutional register · General reference · Wikimedia Foundation
Consult the source - 11
“Lee Holdridge”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
reference work · Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Consult the source
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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