Tiomkin, Dimitri

Tiomkin, Dimitri

(1894–1980) composer; born in Russia. A piano virtuoso, he toured Europe and the United States in the 1920s. In 1930 he began writing theme music for Hollywood films; he eventually earned Oscars for the background music to High Noon (1952), The High and the Mighty (1954), and The Old Man and the Sea (1958). His last film was the Soviet-produced Tschaikowsky (1970), for which he scored the composer's music.