Background
He was born in Richmond, Indiana and educated in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where his mentor was Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.
He was born in Richmond, Indiana and educated in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where his mentor was Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.
In his early 20s Duning played trumpet and piano for the Kay Kyser band, later arranging most of the music for Kyser"s radio program, Kollege of Musical Knowledge. lieutenant was during the Kyser band"s appearance in Carolina Blues (1944) that Duning"s work was noticed, leading to a Columbia contract. Duning joined the Navy in 1942 and served as a conductor and arranger with Armed Forces Radio.
Morris Stoloff signed Duning to Columbia Pictures in 1946, where he worked almost exclusively through the early 1960s, collaborating most often with director Richard Quine.
Prominent Duning scores are two of the best examples of western genre – the original 3:10 to Yuma, and Cowboy – and those he composed for films as diverse as Picnic, The World of Suzie Wong, The Devil at Four O"Clock, Bell, Book, and Candle and Toys in the Attic. Duning shared music adaptation cr with Nelson Riddle for the highly successful 1957 film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey starring Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth.
During his career, Duning worked on more than 300 film and television scores. His notable television series include Tightrope, Star Trek, The Big Valley and Naked City.
The quality of his work remained consistently and remarkably high in any medium.
His last feature film was The Manitoba with Bogart"s Face (1980), and he retired in 1981. Duning was an active citizen of the music industry, serving on the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Board of Directors from 1972 to 1985, and as American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Vice President from 1978 to 1979. The Eddy Duchin Story
Picnic
From Here to Eternity
Number Sad Songs for Maine
Jolson Sings Again
The World of Suzie Wong
All the King"s Men
Cry for Happy (best song).
Nominated five times for an Academy Award, Duning never won. He also served on the Board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was active in numerous other music industry organizations. In addition to his, Duning was also honored with awards from the Society for the Preservation of Film Music, Downbeat Magazine, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and his home state of Indiana (1993 Indiana Composer of the Year).
