George Duning

George Duning (February 25, 1908 ? February 27, 2000) was an American musician and film composer. He was born in Richmond, Indiana and educated in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where his mentor was Mario Castelnouvo-Tedesco. During his early 20s played trumpet and piano for the Kay Kyser band, later arranging most of the music for Kyser's popular Kollege of Musical Knowledge radio program.

During his early 20s played trumpet and piano for the Kay Kyser band, later arranging most of the music for Kyser's popular Kollege of Musical Knowledge radio program. It was during the Kyser band's appearance in Carolina Moon (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 The World of Susie Wong, Me and the Colonel, The Devil at Four O'Clock, Bell, Book, and Candle, Any Wednesday, and Toys in the Attic. He worked on over 300 film and television scores. Notable television series include Star Trek, Big Valley and Naked City, and the quality of his work remained consistently and remarkably high in any medium. His last feature film was The Man With Bogart's Face in 1980, and he retired in 1981.

Nominated five times for an Academy Award, Duning never won.

Duning was an active citizen of the music industry, serving on the ASCAP Board of Directors from 1972 to 1985, and as ASCAP Vice President from 1978 to 1979. 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 Academy Award nominations, 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).