Nathaniel Shilkret (December 25, 1889 – February 18, 1982) was an American composer, conductor, clarinetist, pianist, business executive, and music director.
Shilkret was born in New York City to a musical family of Austrian immigrants. His father played a number of instruments, and made certain that Nat and his three brothers were all accomplished musicians at an early age. Nathaniel Shilkret's brother-in-law, Nathaniel Finston, was violinist in many organizations in his youth and was musical director for Paramount and later for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, at one time being Nathaniel Shilkret's boss.
Shilkret moved to Los Angeles in late 1935 and there contributed music scores and musical direction for a string of Hollywood films for RKO (as musical director from 1935—1937), Walter Lantz Productions (one of the studio's musical directors during 1937) and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (as a musical director from 1942—1946). His films included Mary of Scotl...
