Bob Cobert

Robert Cobert (October 26, 1924 – February 19, 2020) was an American composer who worked in television and films. He is best known for his work with producer/director Dan Curtis, notably the scores for the massively popular, now-cult 1966–71 ABC-TV gothic soap opera Dark Shadows and the TV mini-series The Winds of War (1983) and its sequel War and Remembrance (1988), for which he received an Emmy Award nomination. Together, the latter two scores constitute the longest film music ever written for a film.[1]

Not to be confused with Robert Colbert.
Bob Cobert
Born
Robert Cobert

(1924-10-26)October 26, 1924
New York City, U.S.
DiedFebruary 19, 2020(2020-02-19) (aged 95)
Palm Springs, California, U.S.
EraContemporary

His early work includes not only Dark Shadows[2] but the two tie-in feature film releases House of Dark Shadows (1970) and Night of Dark Shadows (1971). Cobert also composed the scores for the 1972 TV movie The Night Stalker, the sequel The Night Strangler (1973) and the offshoot 1974–75 TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. His other scores include the horror film Burnt Offerings (1976), the comedy film Me and the Kid (1993) and the TV movies The Norliss Tapes (1973), Dracula (1973), Scream of the Wolf (1974), Melvin Purvis: G-Man (1974), The Turn of the Screw (1974), The Great Ice Rip-Off (1974), Trilogy of Terror (1975), Dead of Night (1977), Curse of the Black Widow (1977) and Trilogy of Terror II (1996).

Cobert also composed many TV game show themes, the bulk of them associated with shows produced by Goodson-Todman Productions and Bob Stewart Productions. Of note are TV themes for To Tell the Truth (1961–1967 theme), Password (1963–1967 theme), Blockbusters (1980–1982 theme), The $25,000 Pyramid (1982 update, also used in 1991, and re-recorded in 2012 and 2016), Your Number's Up (1985 theme) and Chain Reaction (1980, 1986–1991 theme, itself a remake of the theme from Supertrain). Cobert scored the music for multiple episodes of the 1963–71 NBC daytime soap opera The Doctors and the 1964–66 ABC daytime soap opera The Young Marrieds, and also the 1980–1981 CBS reality series That's My Line.

In September 1969 the original TV soundtrack to Dark Shadows, credited to the Robert Cobert Orchestra and featuring 16 tracks written or co-written by Cobert, reached no. 18 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart. The song "Quentin's Theme" earned Cobert a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Theme, but lost to John Barry's theme for Midnight Cowboy. A recording of "Quentin's Theme" by the Charles Randolph Grean Sounde was released as a single, and in August 1969 peaked at no. 13 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart (and no. 3 on its Easy Listening chart).

He composed several pieces for American violist John Peskey, including "Concert Piece for Viola and Small Orchestra", which Peskey commissioned and premiered with the South Dakota Symphony. Plus "Contrasts for Viola and Cello", "3 Moods for 2 Violas" and "Music for Only One Lonely Viola", also for Peskey.

Cobert died from pneumonia in Palm Springs, California on February 19, 2020, aged 95.[3]

References
  1. Stewart, Zan (1988-11-19). "Bob Cobert Scores His Own Victory in 'War'". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-10-18. If the Guinness Book of World Records had an entry for composer of the longest film or TV music score, Bob Cobert would win--hands down.
  2. Lavery, David (January 2010). The Essential Cult TV Reader. University Press of Kentucky. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-8131-2568-8. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  3. Burlingame, Jon (February 24, 2020). "Bob Cobert, 'Dark Shadows' and 'Winds of War' Composer, Dies at 95". Variety. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
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