William Axt
William Axt (April 19, 1888 – February 13, 1959) was an American composer of nearly two hundred film scores.
William Axt
Chicago Rapid Transit Company. · eBay item photo front photo back · Public domain
- Name
- William Axt
- Born
- April 19, 1888
- Birthplace
- New York City, New York, U.S.
- Died
- 13 February 1959
- Place of death
- Ukiah, California, U.S.
- Occupation
- Composer
- Education
- DeWitt Clinton High School National Conservatory of Music of America University of Chicago
- Nationality
- United States.
- Languages
- English.
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Documentary summary
William Axt (April 19, 1888 – February 13, 1959) was an American composer of nearly two hundred film scores.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q509538 · wikipedia · William Axt
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — William Axt • Born — April 19, 1888 • Birthplace — New York City, New York, U.S. • Died — 13 February 1959 • Place of death — Ukiah, California, U.S. • Occupation — Composer • Education — DeWitt Clinton High School National Conservatory of Music of America University of Chicago
Life and career
Life and career
Born in New York City, Axt graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx and studied at the National Conservatory of Music of America. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Chicago in 1922. He studied in Berlin under Xaver Scharwenka. Axt made his American debut as a conductor on December 28, 1910. He served as an assistant conductor for the Hammerstein Grand Opera Company and was a musical director for the Capitol Theatre in Manhattan before joining the music department at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1929. Axt retired from the film industry to raise cattle and breed horses in Laytonville, California. He died in Ukiah, California, and had at least one son (Edward).
Selected filmography
Selected filmography
• Theodora (1921; with Erno Rapee) • The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) • Greed (1924) • The Big Parade (1925; with David Mendoza) • Ben-Hur (1925; with David Mendoza) • The Merry Widow (1925) • La Bohème (1926) • Don Juan (1926; with David Mendoza) • The Scarlet Letter (1926) • Camille (1927) • The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927; with David Mendoza) • Our Dancing Daughters (1928) • Show People (1928) • The Trail of '98 (1928) • White Shadows in the South Seas (1928) • A Woman of Affairs (1928) • The Duke Steps Out (1929) • The Flying Fleet (1929) • The Kiss (1929) • The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1929) • Madame X (1929) • Our Modern Maidens (1929) • Where East Is East (1929) • A Free Soul (1931) • Private Lives (1931) • Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931) • Faithless (1932) • Grand Hotel (1932) • The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) • The Washington Masquerade (1932) • The Wet Parade(1932) • Broadway to Hollywood (1933) • Clear All Wires! (1933) • Dinner at Eight (1933) • Eskimo (1933) • Gabriel Over the White House (1933) • Hell Below (1933) • Penthouse (1933) • The Secret of Madame Blanche (1933) • Sons of the Desert (1933) • Storm at Daybreak (1933) • Reunion in Vienna (1933) • Forsaking All Others (1934) • Manhattan Melodrama (1934) • Men in White (1934) • Operator 13 (1934) • Sadie McKee (1934) • The Thin Man (1934) • Tarzan and His Mate (1934) • A Wicked Woman (1934) • You Can't Buy Everything (1934) • Buried Loot (1935), short • Rendezvous (1935) • David Copperfield (1935) • Libeled Lady (1936) • Tarzan Escapes (1936) • We Went to College (1936) • Beg, Borrow or Steal (1937) • London by Night (1937) • Parnell (1937) • Under Cover of Night (1937) • Everybody Sing (1938) • Woman Against Woman (1938) • Yellow Jack (1938) • Sergeant Madden (1939) • Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939) • Tell No Tales (1939) • Untamed (1940) • Little Nellie Kelly (1940) • Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941) • Madame Curie (1943)
Identity
Identity
William Axt is recorded as composer, conductor, director, pianist and musician.

Identifier: bellvol25telephonemag00amerrich (find matches)
Internet Archive Book Images · https: Source book page

Identifier: bellvol25telephonemag00amerrich (find matches)
Internet Archive Book Images · https: Source book page
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1959
William Axt died.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
New York City.
Birth place
Ukiah.
Death place
Literature
Literature
Literature
Axt, William L, Oxford Music Online, 2001
Axt, William L, Oxford Music Online, 2019
Scholarly footprint
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q509538: William AxtWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
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 14 August 2026.
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