Walter Jurmann
Walter Jurmann was born on October 12, 1903, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria). He initially pursued studies in medicine but abandoned them in 1924 to follow his passion for music, working as a lounge pianist in Semmering, Austria. Jurmann moved to Berlin, where he gained recognition with popular tunes such as "Du bist nicht die Erste" and "Veronika, der Lenz ist da," the latter popularized by the Comedian Harmonists. With the advent of sound films, he began composing for movies, starting with "Ihre Majestät, die Liebe" in 1930.
In 1933, as the Nazis rose to power, Jurmann relocated to Paris, where he continued to write music, sometimes incorporating French chanson elements. In 1934, he met MGM's Louis B. Mayer, who offered him a contract, prompting Jurmann and his collaborator Bronisław Kaper to move to Hollywood. There, he composed for films such as "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935), "San Francisco" (1936), and Marx Brothers' films like "A Night at the Opera" (1935) and "A Day at the Races" (1937).
Jurmann settled in Los Angeles in the early 1940s and gradually withdrew from the film industry, though he continued composing. He married Hungarian fashion designer Yvonne Jellinek in 1953. Jurmann passed away from a heart attack on June 17, 1971, in Budapest, Hungary, and is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in California. His legacy includes a diverse array of popular songs and film scores that bridged European and American musical styles.
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