{{Short description|American composer}} {{Lead too short|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Marlin Skiles | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = December 17, 1906{{Citation needed |date=March 2026}} | birth_place = [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]], United States | death_date = {{death date and age|1981|05|01|1906|12|17}} | death_place = [[San Diego, California]] <br> United States | other_names = Marlin Henderson Skiles | occupation = Composer | years_active = 1934–1971 (film) }} '''Marlin Skiles''' (December 17, 1906 – May 1, 1981) was an American [[composer]] of film and television scores.<ref>Gevinson p.350</ref>
== Early years == Pianist, arranger and composer Skiles was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in December 1906.{{Citation needed |date=March 2026}} He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Stiles.<ref name=spn/> He studied music at his local conservatory, later perfecting his training under Ernst Toch in Los Angeles.{{Citation needed |date=March 2026}} He graduated from [[Harrisburg Technical High School]] in 1925.<ref name="spn">{{cite news |last1=Shue |first1=Clyde |title=Skiles Climbed Scales To Musical Fame |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-patriot-news-marlin-skiles/192551681/ |access-date=March 3, 2026 |work=Sunday Patriot-News |date=June 8, 1952 |location=Pennsylvania, Harrisburg |page=21|via = [[Newspapers.com]] }}</ref>
== Career == Skiles began his career when he was 17 years old.<ref name="spn" /> By the 1920s, he was employed as a pianist, arranger and orchestrator with big name dance bands like those of Paul Whiteman and Irving Aaronson and His Commanders. In Hollywood from 1932,{{Citation needed |date=March 2026}} he signed with [[Republic Pictures]] in 1943<ref>{{cite news |title=Marlin Skiles |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-seattle-star-marlin-skiles/192553005/ |access-date=March 3, 2026 |work=The Seattle Star |date=September 13, 1943 |page=12|via = [[Newspapers.com]] }}</ref> was under contract there and at [[Columbia Pictures]] (1944–1948), often writing incidental music for second features. He occasionally composed original soundtracks for better productions, like A Thousand and One Nights (1945) or Dead Reckoning (1946). Skiles served as musical director for Columbia's mega-hit ''[[Gilda (film)|Gilda]]'' (1946), starring [[Rita Hayworth]] in her most famous role. He became a member of [[American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers|ASCAP]] that same year. Skiles worked as a free-lancer from the 1950s and retired in 1971.{{Citation needed |date=March 2026}}
Skiles and his orchestra provided music for the CBS radio program ''Crime Correspondent,''<ref name="t">{{cite news |title=Radio and Television: C. B. S. Video Network to Offer Tuesdays 'Actor's Studio,' Dropped by A. B. C. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/10/29/archives/radio-and-television-c-b-s-video-network-to-offer-tuesdays-actors-s.html |access-date=October 13, 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=October 29, 1949 |page=28 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and he was music director for the television series ''[[Death Valley Days]]''.<ref name="ta" />
==Personal life and death== Skiles married singer and actress Olive Jones, whose stage name was Olive Cromwell, on July 11, 1936, in Riverside, California.<ref>{{cite news |title=Marlin Skiles Wedded July 11 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-news-marriage-of-skiles-jo/192554233/ |access-date=March 3, 2026 |work=The Evening News |date=July 21, 1936 |location=Pennsylvania, Harrisburg |page=2|via = [[Newspapers.com]] }}</ref> He died of cancer complications on May 1, 1981, in [[Rancho Bernardo, San Diego]], California, aged 75.<ref name="ta">{{cite news |title=Marlin Skiles |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-times-advocate-obituary-for-marlin/192553403/ |access-date=March 3, 2026 |work=Times-Advocate |date=May 4, 1981 |location=California, Escondido |page=B 8|via = [[Newspapers.com]] }}</ref>
==Partial filmography== * ''[[Tahiti Honey]]'' (1943) * ''[[Call of the South Seas]]'' (1944) * ''[[The Lady and the Monster]]'' (1944) * ''[[A Thousand and One Nights (1945 film)|A Thousand and One Nights]]'' (1945) * ''[[She Wouldn't Say Yes]]'' (1945) * ''[[Rough, Tough and Ready]]'' (1945) * ''[[Over 21]]'' (1945) * ''[[Gilda (film)|Gilda]]'' (1946) * ''[[The Walls Came Tumbling Down (film)|The Walls Came Tumbling Down]]'' (1946) * ''[[Gallant Journey]]'' (1946) * ''[[Dead Reckoning (1947 film)|Dead Reckoning]]'' (1947) * ''[[The Doolins of Oklahoma]]'' (1949) (uncredited) * ''[[The Boy from Indiana]]'' (1950) * ''[[Flat Top (film)|Flat Top]]'' (1952) * ''[[Fort Osage (film)|Fort Osage]]'' (1952) * ''[[The Rose Bowl Story]]'' (1952) * ''[[Aladdin and His Lamp]]'' (1952) * ''[[Rodeo (1952 film)|Rodeo]]'' (1952) * ''[[Wild Stallion]]'' (1952) * ''[[Wagons West]]'' (1952) * ''[[The Maze (1953 film)|The Maze]]'' (1953) * ''[[Pride of the Blue Grass (1954 film)|Pride of the Blue Grass]]'' (1954) * ''[[Sudden Danger]]'' (1955) * ''[[Canyon River (film)|Canyon River]]'' (1956) * ''[[The Young Guns (film)|The Young Guns]]'' (1956) * ''[[Calling Homicide]]'' (1956) * ''[[My Gun Is Quick (film)|My Gun Is Quick]]'' (1957) * ''[[The Disembodied (film)|The Disembodied]]'' (1957) * ''[[Man from God's Country]]'' (1958) * ''[[In the Money]]'' (1958) * ''[[The Beast of Budapest]]'' (1958) * ''[[Cole Younger, Gunfighter]]'' (1958) * ''[[Quantrill's Raiders (film)|Quantrill's Raiders]]'' (1958) * ''[[Fort Massacre]]'' (1958) * ''[[Queen of Outer Space]]'' (1958) * ''[[Joy Ride (1958 film)|Joey Ride]]'' (1958) * ''[[King of the Wild Stallions]]'' (1959) * ''[[The Hypnotic Eye]]'' (1960) * ''[[The Deadly Companions]]'' (1961) * ''[[Gunfight at Comanche Creek]]'' (1963) * ''[[The Crawling Hand]]'' (1963) (uncredited) * ''[[The Strangler]]'' (1964) * ''[[The Shepherd of the Hills (1964 film)|The Shepherd of the Hills]]'' (1964) * ''[[Indian Paint (film)|Indian Paint]]'' (1965) * ''[[Space Probe Taurus]]'' (1965 - as Marlin Skyles) * ''[[The Violent Ones]]'' (1967) * ''[[Dayton's Devils]]'' (1968) * ''[[The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler]]'' (1971)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * Alan Gevinson. ''Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960''. University of California Press, 1997.
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0804165}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skiles, Marlin}} [[Category:1906 births]] [[Category:1981 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American composers]] [[Category:American film score composers]] [[Category:American male film score composers]] [[Category:American television composers]] [[Category:American male television composers]] [[Category:Musicians from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]] [[Category:20th-century American male composers]]