Career
Born in Haverstraw, New York, Heindorf worked as a pianist in a movie house in Mechanicville in his early teens. In 1928, he moved to New York City, where he worked as a musical arranger before heading to Hollywood. He gained his first job as an orchestrator at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he worked on Hollywood Revue of 1929, and subsequently went on the road playing piano for Lupe Vélez.
After completing this engagement, he joined Warner Brothers, composing and/or arranging and conducting music exclusively for the studio for nearly forty years.
Heindorf, along with Georgie Stoll at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, were jazz aficionados well known in the black entertainment community for employing minority musicians in their studio music departments. He undertook the musical direction of Judy Garland"s 1954 comeback film A Star is Born and made a cameo appearance as himself in the premiere party sequence where Jack Carson"s character congratulates him on a great score.
Among Heindorf"s other screen credits are 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1935, The Great Lie, Knute Rockne All American, Kings Row, Night and Day, Tea for Two, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Jazz Singer, Number Time for Sergeants, The Helen Morgan Story, Marjorie Morningstar, Damn Yankees, Auntie Mame, Finian"s Rainbow, and his final musical for Jack L. Warner, 1776. Heindorf was a friend and admirer of jazz pianist Art Tatum.
He hosted two Tatum piano performances at his Hollywood home in 1950 and 1955 for their mutual friends.
Heindorf taped the private concerts, complete with background conversations of Tatum and the group, with some of the pianist"s very best playing. These performances are now available on the Verve label.