Bill Conti

In his two-and-a-half-hour interview, Bill Conti discusses his family's talent for music and his early start playing piano gigs. He talks of studying music at Louisiana State University on a bassoon scholarship and then attending Juilliard to further his studies. He recalls his time in Rome, ghost-writing for composers and working in clubs, and then describes how he first got into composing for film. Conti details his work composing the score for the feature films Bloom in Love and Rocky, and chronicles his long association as the conductor for the Academy Awards. He recounts the process of playing someone off when an acceptance speech goes long, and talks of playing off Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Julia Roberts. He then discusses his work composing for television, including creating the theme/main titles for Dynasty, Cagney & Lacey, and Falcon Crest. He explains the process of scoring the miniseries North and South, and offers advice to aspiring composers. Jon Burlingame conducted the interview on September 20, 2010 in Los Angeles, CA.