About
"I love the process of writing music. That's where it's really most exciting. I look forward to that first performance, the hearing of the music I've written, whether it be for film or television or in a concert hall. After that it becomes part of the world out there, I don't quite have the same attachment to it that I did when I'm sitting in my room alone and writing it."
In his three-and-a-half-hour interview, Charles Fox talks about his musical education, which included studying with Nadia Boulanger in Paris from 1959-61. He speaks about breaking into composing for television, writing transition material for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as well as the bold and energetic theme song for ABC's Wide World of Sports. He speaks in great detail about Love, American Style, a series for which he wrote the theme song and scored music for the entire series run. He describes other series for which he both scored the theme song and created libraries for track music. He describes his work on Laverne & Shirley, including details about the pilot presentation and the creation of the theme song and main title. Additionally, he talks about his work on the series Happy Days, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat, and The Paper Chase. He also discusses his work in television movies (including Victory at Entebbe) and feature films (including The Other Side of the Mountain and Foul Play), as well as composing other popular songs. B-roll consists of Fox performing a medley of his television theme songs as well as "Killing Me Softly with His Song." Karen Herman conducted the interview on June 29, 2004 in Encino, CA.
Highlights
Charles Fox on composing the theme to ABC's Wide World of Sports
Charles Fox on scoring the music for the pilot for Happy Days (on Love, American Style) and later composing for the Happy Days series
Composer Charles Fox on composing the theme for Angie
Composer Charles Fox on composing the theme for Wonder Woman
Charles Fox on composing theme songs
Full Interview
Chapter 1
On his formative years and breaking into television, writing transition music for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Chapter 2
On his energetic theme song for ABC's Wide World of Sports; on his work for Laverne & Shirley including details about the pilot presentation and the creation of the theme song and main title.
Chapter 3
On his work on the theme songs and music libraries of Love, American Style and Happy Days
Chapter 4
On his work on the series The Bugaloos, Me and the Chimp, Angie, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat, and The Paper Chase
Chapter 5
On his work on George Burns Comedy Week; on his work on The Hogan Family; on his work in game shows for Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, in television movies including Victory at Entebbe, My Father's House, A Rainbow, and feature films including The Other Side of the Mountain
Chapter 6
On working with director Lamont Johnson; on some of the work he did on TV movies; on composing for the television movie Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232
On composing for the feature films Foul Play, 9 to 5, among others; on working with Colin Higgins, on writing the music for Killing Me Softly With His Song, which won him and lyricist Norman Gimbel a Grammy Award; on his then-current projects; on his thoughts about how the business has changed
Chapter 7
On his musical style; on the business of composing for film and television; on his advice to aspiring composers; on his career highlights; on collaborating with lyricist Norman Gimbel; on how he would like to be remembered
B-roll piano medley of some of his compositions (Love American Style, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Angie, Hogan Family, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat); Killing Me Softly with His Song
Shows
ABC's Wide World of Sports
Charles Fox on composing the theme to ABC's Wide World of Sports
Angie
Composer Charles Fox on composing the theme for Angie
Bugaloos, The
Composer Charles Fox on working with Sid and Marty Krofft on The Bugaloos
Conan
Composer Charles Fox on working on the Conan TV series
Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232
Composer Charles Fox on working on the TV movie Crash Landing
George Burns Comedy Week
Composer Charles Fox on composing music for George Burns Comedy Week
Charles Fox on working on George Burns Comedy Week (continued)
Happy Days
Charles Fox on scoring the music for the pilot for Happy Days (on Love, American Style) and later composing for the Happy Days series
Composer Charles Fox on working on Happy Days (continued)
Hogan Family, The aka Valerie
Composer Charles Fox on working on The Hogan Family
Laverne & Shirley
Charles Fox on composing the theme to Laverne & Shirley
Love Boat, The
Composer Charles Fox what a composer does in terms of creating the style of a show; on composing the theme for The Love Boat
Love, American Style
Charles Fox on composing the theme and incidental music for Love, American Style
Charles Fox on scoring the music for the pilot for Happy Days (which was done for Love, American Style)
Me and the Chimp
Composer Charles Fox on working on Me and the Chimp
My Father's House
Composer Charles Fox on working on the TV movie My Father's House
Nanny and the Professor
Composer Charles Fox on working on one episode of Nanny and the Professor
Paper Chase, The
Composer Charles Fox on composing music for The Paper Chase
Rainbow
Composer Charles Fox on scoring Rainbow, the 1978 TV movie about Judy Garland's youth
Stranger Within, The (1974)
Composer Charles Fox on working on The Stranger Within
Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The
Composer Charles Fox on arranging for The Tonight Show early in his career; on Ed Ames' famous tomahawk stunt
Victory at Entebbe
Composer Charles Fox on scoring the TV movie Victory at Entebbe
Wonder Woman
Composer Charles Fox on composing the theme for Wonder Woman
Topics
TV Theme Songs
Charles Fox on composing the theme to ABC's Wide World of Sports
Charles Fox on composing the theme to Laverne & Shirley
Composer Charles Fox on composing the theme for Angie
Composer Charles Fox on composing the theme for Wonder Woman
Composer Charles Fox what a composer does in terms of creating the style of a show; on composing the theme for The Love Boat
Composer Charles Fox plays piano medley of some of his compositions (Love American Style, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Angie, Hogan Family, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat); Killing Me Softly with His Song
We Laughed
Composer Charles Fox on Ed Ames' famous tomahawk stunt on The Tonight Show
Professions
Composer
Charles Fox on composing theme songs
Composer Charles Fox what a composer does in terms of creating the style of a show; on composing the theme for The Love Boat
Genres
Game Shows
Composer Charles Fox on composing for Goodson-Todman game shows early in his career
People
Ed Ames
Composer Charles Fox on arranging for The Tonight Show early in his career; on Ed Ames' famous tomahawk stunt
Norman Gimbel
Charles Fox on composing the theme to Laverne & Shirley
Mark Goodson
Composer Charles Fox on composing for Goodson-Todman game shows early in his career
Skitch Henderson
Composer Charles Fox on arranging for The Tonight Show early in his career; on Ed Ames' famous tomahawk stunt
Bob Israel
Composer Charles Fox on music producer Bob Israel
Marty Krofft
Composer Charles Fox on working with Sid and Marty Krofft on The Bugaloos
Sid Krofft
Composer Charles Fox on working with Sid and Marty Krofft on The Bugaloos
Garry Marshall
Charles Fox on scoring the music for the pilot for Happy Days (on Love, American Style) and later composing for the Happy Days series