Frank Churchill

Frank Edwin Churchill was an American composer of popular music for films. He wrote most of the music for Disney's 1937 movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, including "Whistle While You Work" and "Someday My Prince Will Come". The latter (without the Larry Morey lyrics) became a jazz standard covered by various jazz greats, including Oscar Peterson, Miles Davis, and Dave Brubeck.

History[]

Churchill began his career as a pianist in cinemas at the age of 15. After dropping out of medical studies at the University of Los Angeles, California to pursue a career in music, he eventually became accompanist at the Los Angeles radio station KNX (AM) in 1924.

He joined Walt Disney Productions in 1930, and scored many animated shorts - his song for The Three Little Pigs, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", was a huge commercial success.

In 1937, he was chosen to score Disney's first full-length animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. His catchy, artfully written songs played a large part in the film's initial success and continuing popularity.

In 1942, Churchill and fellow composer Oliver Wallace won an Oscar in the category "Scoring of a Musical Picture" for co-writing the score for Dumbo. He also shared an Oscar nomination with Ned Washington for the song "Baby Mine" from Dumbo for Best Song. A year later, Churchill received two posthumous Oscar nominations; the first for co-writing the score to Bambi with Edward H. Plumb, and the second for co-writing the song "Love is a Song" from Bambi with lyricist Larry Morey.

Frank Churchill committed suicide on May 14, 1942, at his ranch north of Los Angeles in Castaic, California. He is purported to have died "at the piano" of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Although there is some speculation that his suicide was a result of negative discourse with Walt Disney regarding his latest scores for Bambi, it was more likely due to his deep depression and bought with heavy drinking after the deaths of two of his closest friends and fellow Disney orchestra members who had passed away earlier that year within a month of each other.

At the time of his death, Churchill had been working on music in the early stages of Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. In 2001, he was posthumously honored a Disney Legend.

Filmography[]

Year	Film	Position
1930	The Chain Gang	Composer - uncredited
1931	The Castaway	Composer - uncredited
	The China Plate	Composer - uncredited
	The Busy Beavers	Composer - uncredited
	The Cat's Out	Composer - uncredited
	Egyptian Melodies	Composer - uncredited
	The Clock Store	Composer - uncredited
	The Fox Hunt	Composer - uncredited
1932	The Bird Store	Composer - uncredited
	The Grocery Boy	Composer - uncredited
	Barnyard Olympics	Composer - uncredited
	The Bears and Bees	Composer - uncredited
	Musical Farmer	Composer - uncredited
	Mickey in Arabia	Composer - uncredited
	The Whoopee Party	Composer - uncredited
	Bugs in Love	Composer - uncredited
	Touchdown Mickey	Composer - uncredited
	The Klondike Kid	Composer - uncredited
	Santa's Workshop	Composer - uncredited
1933	Building a Building	Composer - uncredited
	Mickey's Pal Pluto	Composer - uncredited
	Birds in the Spring	Composer - uncredited
	Mickey's Mellerdrammer	Composer - uncredited
	Ye Olden Days	Composer - uncredited
	Three Little Pigs	Composer - uncredited Songwriter: "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"
	Mickey's Gala Premier	Composer - uncredited
	Old King Cole	Composer - uncredited
	Puppy Love	Composer - uncredited
	Lullaby Land	Composer - uncredited Songwriter: "Lullaby Land of Nowhere"
	The Steeple-Chase	Composer - uncredited
	Giantland	Composer - uncredited
1934	Shanghaied	Composer - uncredited
	Camping Out	Composer - uncredited
	Playful Pluto	Composer - uncredited
	Funny Little Bunnies	Composer Songwriter: "See the Funny Little Bunnies"
	The Big Bad Wolf	Composer - uncredited
	Gulliver Mickey	Composer - uncredited
	Mickey's Steam-Roller	Composer - uncredited
	The Grasshopper and the Ants	Songwriter: "The World Owes Me a Living"
	The Flying Mouse	Composer - uncredited
	Orphan's Benefit	Composer - uncredited
	Mickey Plays Papa	Composer - uncredited
	The Dognapper	Composer - uncredited
	Servant's Entrance	Musical Director: animation sequence - uncredited
1935	The Tortoise and the Hare	Composer - uncredited
	Mickey's Man Friday	Composer - uncredited
	The Golden Touch	Composer - uncredited
	The Robber Kitten	Composer - uncredited
	Who Killed Cock Robin?	Composer - uncredited
	Pluto's Judgement Day	Composer - uncredited
	On Ice	Composer - uncredited
	Three Orphan Kittens	Composer - uncredited
	Cock o' the Walk	Composer - uncredited
1936	Three Little Wolves	Composer - uncredited
	Thru the Mirror	Composer - uncredited
	Toby Tortoise Returns	Composer - uncredited
	Donald and Pluto	Composer - uncredited
	More Kittens	Composer - uncredited
1937	The Worm Turns	Musical Director - uncredited
1937	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	music: "I'm Wishing" "One Song" "With a Smile and a Song" "Whistle While You Work" "Heigh-Ho" "Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum" "The Silly Song" "Someday My Prince Will Come" - uncredited
1939	The Practical Pig	Composer - uncredited
1940	Bone Trouble	Composer
1940	Pinocchio	Music Department - uncredited
1941	The Reluctant Dragon	Himself Composer
1941	Dumbo	music: "Look Out for Mr. Stork" "Roustabouts" "Baby Mine" - uncredited
1942	The Army Mascot	Composer - uncredited (Posthumous release)
	All Together	Composer - uncredited (Posthumous release)
	Bambi	Composer Songwriter: "Love is a Song" "Little April Shower" "Let's Sing a Gay Little Spring Song" "Looking For Romance" - uncredited (Posthumous release)
	Saludos Amigos	Composer - uncredited (Posthumous release)
1949	The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad	Songwriter: "The Merrily Song" (Posthumous release)