Movies: Musical Bios
Film biographies of selected singers, songwriters, composers, musicians, bandleaders, etc.
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- DirectorHenry KosterStarsClifton WebbRobert WagnerDebra PagetA film biography of the composer John Philip Sousa, from his early days in the Marine Corps Band through the Spanish-American War in 1898.
- DirectorRichard WhorfVincente MinnelliGeorge SidneyStarsRobert WalkerVan HeflinLucille BremerSongwriter and Broadway pioneer Jerome Kern is unable to find immediate success in the U.S. He sought recognition abroad. He journeyed to England where his dreams of success became real and where he met his future wife Eva Leale.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsMickey RooneyTom DrakeJune AllysonMusical biography chronicling the songwriting partnership of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsJune HaverRay BolgerGordon MacRaeMarilyn Miller grows up in a showbiz family and hits Broadway before she is sixteen. She falls in love with her dancer-mentor Jack, but he is married. When she marries her stage partner Frank he soon is called to arms in World War I.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsDoris DayJames CagneyCameron MitchellA fictionalized account of the career of jazz singer Ruth Etting and her tempestuous marriage to gangster Marty Snyder, who helped propel her to stardom.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsDoris DayDanny ThomasFrank LovejoyThe success and decline of songwriter Gus Kahn is portrayed, with his wife, Grace Kahn, sticking by him the whole time.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartJune AllysonHarry MorganBiography of bandleader Glenn Miller from his beginnings to his death over the English Channel in December 1944.
- DirectorValentine DaviesStarsSteve AllenDonna ReedBerta GerstenThe young Benny Goodman is taught clarinet by a Chicago music professor. He is advised by bandleader Kid Ory to play whichever kind of music he likes best, but to make a living, Benny begins by joining the Ben Pollack traveling band.
- DirectorSidney J. FurieStarsDiana RossBilly Dee WilliamsRichard PryorThe story of the troubled life and career of the legendary Jazz singer, Billie Holiday.
- DirectorDon WeisStarsSal MineoSusan KohnerJames DarrenBiopic of famous jazz drummer, Gene Krupa, who becomes a sensation but cannot handle success and life in the fast lane and ends-up broke, struggling with drugs and alcohol.
- DirectorWalter LangStarsSusan HaywardRory CalhounDavid WayneA talented singer's musical career begins to soar.
- DirectorGeorge SidneyStarsTyrone PowerKim NovakVictoria ShawThe life story of the famous pianist and band leader of the 1930s and 1940s.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsAnn BlythPaul NewmanRichard CarlsonTorch singer Helen Morgan rises from sordid beginnings to fame and fortune only to lose it all to alcohol and poor personal choices.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsGordon MacRaeDan DaileyErnest BorgnineRay joins Buddy and Lew to form a successful 1920s musical show writing team. Soon, they've got several hits on Broadway, but Buddy's ambition leads to friction among the group, as the other 2 feel increasingly left out.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsRobert AldaJoan LeslieAlexis SmithGeorge Gershwin is a driven composer whose need to succeed destroys his relationship with singer Julie Adams and socialite Christine Gilbert.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsLarry ParksEvelyn KeyesWilliam DemarestThis movie shows the idealized career of the singer Al Jolson, a little Jewish boy who goes against the will of his father in order to be in showbiz. He becomes a star, falls in love with a non-Jewish dancer, and marries her. In the end he chooses success on the stage.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsCary GrantAlexis SmithMonty WoolleyA fictionalized biopic of composer Cole Porter from his days at Yale in the 1910s through the height of his success to the 1940s.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsFred AstaireVera-EllenRed SkeltonThe story of the successful Tin Pan Alley songwriting team of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby is told loosely and lightheartedly.
- DirectorSidney LanfieldStarsDon AmecheAndrea LeedsAl JolsonMore fictional than factual biography of Stephen Foster. Songwriter from Pittsburgh falls in love with the South, marries a Southern gal (Leeds), then is accused of sympathizing when the Civil War breaks out.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsPaul MuniMerle OberonCornel WildeBiography of Frederic Chopin.
- DirectorCharles VidorGeorge CukorStarsDirk BogardeCapucineGeneviève PageThe romantic story of Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt (Sir Dirk Bogarde), whose scandalous love affair forced him to abandon his adoring audiences.
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsFlorence HendersonToralv MaurstadChristina SchollinBased on the life of Norway's greatest composer Edvard Grieg, and filmed in Norway where he lived. The soundtrack is all Edvard Grieg's music with added lyrics.
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsHorst BuchholzMary CostaNigel PatrickComposer Johann Strauss becomes the "Waltz-King" and woos a baron's mistress in 19th-century Austria.
- DirectorJames MangoldStarsJoaquin PhoenixReese WitherspoonGinnifer GoodwinA chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.
- DirectorGene NelsonStarsGeorge HamiltonSusan OliverRed ButtonsThe story of the country and western singer Hank Williams.