Word: previn
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Freedom to Fail. Ironically, Previn is drifting away from Hollywood just when he is in greatest demand, and can name his own price and property. Yet he has not made the leap without...
With Wife Dory, a former MGM lyricist, he is committed to write an 18-song musical score for Goodbye, Mr. Chips, a movie starring Richard Burton. And he will score two films, The Graduate and Catch-22, directed by his close pal Mike Nichols. Previn figures that he can do all this with half of one hand, while bearing down on stage, podium and recording studio. "Now, at least, I am responsible for my own mistakes," he says. "It's better than all those years when I was going from Lassie to Debbie Reynolds." Of course, between the dogs...
...probably doesn't know the meaning of the word. Son of a Berlin piano teacher who immigrated to the U.S. when Andre was nine, he has made a success of all the many keys he touched. Previn studied classical music under Italian Composer-Conductor Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, did considerable moonlighting in Hollywood, "cheating every minute." With a friend, Composer Lukas Foss, he recorded all the four-hand piano music of Mozart. He wrote a symphony and a quantity of piano works and chamber music. He did the arrangements for several bestselling jazz albums. And he fared well as guest...
...idol and guide has been Leonard Bernstein, who showed that the composers and conductors of popular music could emulate the classical artists-and vice versa-without getting laughs. Says Previn: "Bernstein has made it possible not to specialize in one area of music. You no longer have to do just Broadway shows, or movies, or conduct-you can do any or all of them...
Pride & Prejudice. Despite his virtuosity, Previn's reputation in serious music circles was tarnished by his Hollywood glitter. "Wherever I went to conduct," he complains, "it was always 'Hollywood's Andre Previn came here last week and . . .' To have written a Broadway score is O.K., even admirable; having played a lot of jazz is O.K., but less admirable. But somehow, having worked in Hollywood is like being a well-known whore...