View source for Roger Edens

{{Short description|American composer (1905–1970)}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2021}}
'''Roger Edens''' (November 9, 1905 – July 13, 1970) was a Hollywood composer, arranger and associate producer, and is considered one of the major creative figures in [[Arthur Freed]]'s musical film production unit at [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] during the "golden era of Hollywood".

==Early career and work with Judy Garland==
Edens was born in [[Hillsboro, Texas]]. His parents were of [[Scots-Irish American|Scots-Irish]] ancestry. He was a piano accompanist for ballroom dancers before becoming a musical conductor on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]. He went to Hollywood in 1932 along with his protégée [[Ethel Merman]], writing and arranging material for her films at [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]]. In 1935 he joined MGM as a musical supervisor and occasional composer and arranger, notably of music for [[Judy Garland]]. He also appeared on screen opposite [[Eleanor Powell]] in a cameo in ''[[Broadway Melody of 1936]]''.

Arthur Freed, producer of musicals at MGM, was impressed by Edens and soon made him integral to his production team, which was rapidly growing and featured many of the day's greatest talents, recruited by Freed himself. Freed built a cabinet around himself, and in the early 1940s made Edens associate producer. The unit made dozens of extremely successful musical films in the 1940s and into the 1950s, including ''[[Meet Me in St. Louis]]'' (1944), ''[[Easter Parade (film)|Easter Parade]]'' (1948), ''[[On the Town (film)|On the Town]]'' (1949), ''[[Show Boat (1951 film)|Show Boat]]'' (1951), ''[[An American in Paris (film)|An American in Paris]]'' (1951), ''[[Singin' in the Rain]]'' (1952) and ''[[The Band Wagon]]'' (1953).

When musical films became less popular in the mid-1950s, Edens left MGM, opened his own office, and worked on such projects as ''[[Funny Face]]'' (1957) with [[Audrey Hepburn]], [[Fred Astaire]], and [[Kay Thompson]] at Paramount.

Edens is considered an important creative musical figure from the end of the 1930s until the beginning of the 1960s. His MGM career allowed him to work with top musical performers including Judy Garland, of whom he was the original trainer and overseer and a lifelong friend.<ref name="luft">{{Cite book
  | last = Luft
  | first = Lorna
  | author-link = Lorna Luft
  | title = Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir
  | publisher = Simon and Schuster
  | year = 1999
  | pages = 206
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jLmp4MF3UK4C&pg=PA206
  | isbn = 978-0-671-01900-6}}
</ref>
Special material he wrote for her includes "Dear Mr Gable - You Made Me Love You" (1937); "[[Our Love Affair]]" (1940) for ''[[Strike Up the Band (film)|Strike up the Band]],'' which received an [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Oscar nomination for Best Song]]; and the music for the "Born in a Trunk" sequence in ''[[A Star Is Born (1954 film)|A Star Is Born]]'' (1954).<ref name="gersheletter">[[Leonard Gershe]] received sole credit due to a contractual issue. [http://www.jgdb.com/star.htm Personal letter from Gershe to Jim Johnson] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090120085053/http://jgdb.com/star.htm |date=2009-01-20 }}</ref> "[[It's a Great Day for the Irish]]", which Garland sang in ''[[Little Nellie Kelly]]'' (1940) and was one of her biggest hits, became an [[Irish-American]] anthem played by military and marching bands every [[St. Patrick's Day]] the world over.

Edens produced a number of films after the mid-1950s, and wrote special material for Garland's [[Palace Theatre (Broadway)|Palace Theatre]] debut in 1951 and her [[London Palladium]] concerts the same year.

==Birthday parties==
Edens and [[Kay Thompson]] had the same birthday (November 9). From 1942–1957 they gave joint birthday parties where each presented a surprise production number with special material featuring their friends, including [[Judy Garland]], [[Ethel Merman]], [[Lena Horne]], [[Gene Kelly]], [[Marilyn Monroe]], [[Dorothy Dandridge]], [[Maureen O'Hara]], [[Ray Bolger]], [[Ann Sothern]], [[Phil Silvers]], [[Danny Kaye]], [[Charles Walters]], [[Cole Porter]], [[Hugh Martin]] and [[Ralph Blane]]. They never told the other what they were going to present.

==''Show Boat''==
Edens and producer Arthur Freed were the guiding forces behind MGM's 1951 screen version of ''[[Show Boat (1951 film)|Show Boat]]''. Edens headed the search for the right singer-actor to play Joe, the key supporting character who sings "[[Ol' Man River]]", and discovered [[William Warfield]] after reading a rave review of his performance in a New York song recital. Edens also supervised the film's reediting when the producer and director found the original cut too slow.

==Personal life==
Before moving to California, Edens was married to Martha LaPrelle, but they spent much time apart and eventually divorced.<ref>{{Cite book
  | last = Mann
  | first = William J.
  | author-link = William J. Mann
  | title = Behind the screen: how gays and lesbians shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969
  | publisher = Viking
  | year = 2001
  | pages = [https://archive.org/details/behindscreenhowg00mann/page/273 273]
  | isbn = 978-0-670-03017-0
  | url-access = registration
  | url = https://archive.org/details/behindscreenhowg00mann/page/273
  }}
</ref> By the time he knew [[Judy Garland]], he was living as a gay man.<ref name="luft"/>

==Awards==
'''Nominated:'''
* Academy Award for [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Scoring]], 1939: ''[[Babes in Arms (film)|Babes in Arms]],'' with [[Georgie Stoll]]
* Academy Award for [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Scoring]], 1940: ''[[Strike Up the Band (film)|Strike Up the Band]],'' with Georgie Stoll
* Academy Award for [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Best Song]], 1940: "[[Our Love Affair]]" from ''[[Strike Up the Band (film)|Strike Up the Band]]'' (music and lyrics)
* Academy Award for [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Scoring of a Musical Picture]], 1942: [[For Me and My Gal (film)|''For Me and My Gal'' (film)]]'','' with Georgie Stoll
* Academy Award for [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Best Song]], 1947: "Pass That Peace Pipe" from ''[[Good News (1947 film)|Good News]]'' (music and lyrics) with Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin

'''Won:'''
* Academy Award for [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Scoring of a Musical Picture]], 1948: ''[[Easter Parade (film)|Easter Parade]],'' with [[Johnny Green]]
* Academy Award for [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Scoring of a Musical Picture]], 1949: ''[[On the Town (film)|On the Town]],'' with [[Lennie Hayton]]
* Academy Award for [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Scoring of a Musical Picture]], 1950: ''[[Annie Get Your Gun (film)|Annie Get Your Gun]],'' with [[Adolph Deutsch]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0249136}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{Find a Grave|2961}}
<br>
{{AcademyAwardBestOriginalScore 1941-1960}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edens, Roger}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1970 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American classical musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American composers]]
[[Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:American film score composers]]
[[Category:American gay musicians]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ composers]]
[[Category:American male film score composers]]
[[Category:Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery]]
[[Category:Gay composers]]
[[Category:LGBTQ film score composers]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from Texas]]
[[Category:People from Hillsboro, Texas]]