Stuart Phillips (born September 9, 1929) is an American composer of

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s and television series

theme music Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

, conductor and record producer. He is best known for composing the theme tunes to the television series '' McCloud'', ''

Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. It began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series, '' Galactica 1980'', a line of book adaptat ...

'', and '' Knight Rider''.

Biography

Career

Phillips studied music at

The High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as Music & Art (or M&A), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High Sc ...

in New York City, New York, and at the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

. While at Eastman, he began arranging music for the Rochester Civic Orchestra.Stu Phillips official biography
at stuwho.com In 1958, Phillips began composing for

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

' television and record subsidiaries. He founded Colpix Records and produced high-charting hits for James Darren,

Nina Simone Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...

, The Skyliners, Shelley Fabares, and

The Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...

. He also furnished music for Columbia's television series, including ''

The Donna Reed Show ''The Donna Reed Show'' is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her Pediatrics, pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage childr ...

'' with Fabares and ''

''. Phillips branched out into motion-picture work, and scored Columbia's 1964 movie, '' Ride the Wild Surf''. In the mid-1960s, he worked for

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

and created, produced and arranged for the easy listening studio orchestra the Hollyridge Strings. Excerpts from the Hollyridge Strings album ''The Beatles Song Book'' can be heard on the 1964 Capitol documentary album '' The Beatles' Story''. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Phillips continued scoring films and television series including music for the films '' Beyond the Valley of the Dolls'' (1970), '' The Seven Minutes'' (1971) and the television series '' Get Christie Love!''. In 1974, he began working at

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

scoring television series; Glen A. Larson made extensive use of his compositions. During this time, he scored music for the television series ''

The Six Million Dollar Man ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After being seriously injured in a NASA test f ...

'', '' McCloud'', and ''

''. His ''Battlestar Galactica'' theme was featured prominently in the film '' Airplane II: The Sequel'' (1982). He also composed music for the television series ''

The Amazing Spider-Man ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American superhero American comic book, comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its title character and main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of t ...

'' (which was for Charles Fries/Dan Goodman/Danchuck Productions) during this time. In the 1980s, Phillips left Universal and began working at

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

, again being a favorite composer of Glen A. Larson, where he composed music for the television series '' The Fall Guy'', '' Automan'' and '' Knight Rider''. All programs were Larson productions.

Later years

Phillips went into semi-retirement in the 1990s at his home in Studio City, California. Since that time, he has appeared at

fan convention A fan convention (also known as a con or fan meeting) is an event in which Fan (person), fans of a particular topic gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and each other. Some also inc ...

s for ''Battlestar Galactica'' and has attended cult-film screenings for ''Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.'' In 2002, Phillips published his autobiography ''Stu Who?: Forty Years of Navigating the Minefields of the Music Business.'' In 2006, he also participated in a documentary film featured on the special edition DVD re-release of ''Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.''The ''Beyond the Valley of the Dolls'' special-edition DVD features ''Look on up at the Bottom: The Music of the Dolls.'' USA: 20th Century Fox. Long a "serious" musician, Phillips has also orchestrated pieces by

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

and

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a compos ...

for

Symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

orchestra. Phillips can be heard on FaLaLaLaLa.com discussing the history of The Hollyridge Strings's Christmas album, which it released in 2008.

Filmography

Film music

* '' Mad Dog Coll'' (1961) * '' The Man from the Diner's Club'' (1963) * '' Ride the Wild Surf'' (1964) * '' Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round'' (1966) * '' Hells Angels on Wheels'' (1967) *'' The Name of the Game Is Kill!'' (1968) * '' Angels from Hell'' (1968) * '' 2000 Years Later'' (1969) * '' Run, Angel, Run!'' (1969) * ''Follow Me'' (1969) * '' The Gay Deceivers'' (1969) * '' Venus in Furs'' (also known as ''Paroxismus'') (Uncredited, 1969) * '' Beyond the Valley of the Dolls'' (1970) * '' Nam's Angels'' (1970) * ''The Curious Female'' (1970) *'' Savage Intruder'' (1970) * '' The Red, White, and Black'' (1970) * ''Revenge Is My Destiny'' (1971) * '' Simon, King of the Witches'' (1971) * '' The Seven Minutes'' (1971) * ''Jud'' (1971) * '' Pickup on 101'' (1972) * ''Throw Out the Anchor!'' (1974) * '' How to Seduce a Woman'' (1974) * '' Macon County Line'' (1974) * ''The Meal'' (1975) * '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'' (1979) * '' Fast Charlie... the Moonbeam Rider'' (1979) * ''Hollywood Goes to the Bowl 2004'' (2004)

Television music

GL denotes a Glen Larson production, where known. Phillips was one of Larson's favorite composers. * ''

'' (Unknown episodes, 1958) * ''Rockabye the Infantry'' (1963) * ''

'' (54 episodes, 1966–1968) * ''The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War'' (1973) GL * '' Get Christie Love!'' (Unknown episodes, 1974) GL * ''

Switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...

'' (2 episodes, 1975) GL * '' McCloud'' (8 episodes, 1974–1976) GL * ''Benny and Barney: Las Vegas Undercover'' (1977) * '' The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries'' (14 episodes, 1977) GL * '' Quincy, M.E.'' (17 episodes, 1976–1977) GL * ''

'' (Unknown episodes, 1978) * '' Evening in Byzantium'' (1978) * ''

'' (Pilot/TV movie, 1978) GL * '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'' (1979) GL * ''

'' (21 episodes, 1978–1979) GL * '' The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo'' (Unknown episodes, 1980–1981) GL * ''Conquest of the Earth'' (1980) GL * '' Galactica 1980'' (Unknown episodes, 1980) GL * '' B. J. and the Bear'' (1 episode, 1980) GL * ''Battles: The Murder That Wouldn't Die'' (1980) GL * ''Waikiki'' (1980) * ''Midnight Lace'' (1981) * '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'' (5 episodes, 1979–1981) GL * '' The Fall Guy'' (Unknown episodes, 1981) GL * '' Chicago Story'' (Unknown episodes, 1982) * ''Terror at Alcatraz'' (1982) * ''

Rooster The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

'' (1982) * '' Automan'' (4 episodes, 1983) GL * '' Masquerade'' (1 episode, 1983) GL * '' Knight Rider'' (14 episodes, 1982–1984) GL * '' Half Nelson'' (Unknown episodes, 1985) GL * ''In Like Flynn'' (1985) * '' The Highwayman'' (Pilot/TV Movie, 1987) GL * '' The Highwayman'' (1 episode, 1988) GL * ''The Road Raiders'' (1989)

Awards and nominations

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

*Nominated: 1964 Best Instrumental Performance - Non Jazz, ''The Beatles Song Book (Hollyridge Strings)'' *Nominated: 1979 Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special, ''Battlestar Galactica'' BMI Film & TV Awards *Won: 2005 Best

Ringtone A ringtone is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming telephone call. Originally referring to the sound of electromechanical striking of bells or gongs, the term refers to any sound by any device alerting of an incoming call. On p ...

, ''Knight Rider''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Stu 1929 births 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians American film score composers American male conductors (music) American male film score composers American male songwriters American music arrangers American television composers Living people American male television composers Place of birth missing (living people) Record producers from New York (state) The High School of Music & Art alumni