Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 26, 1907, Leigh was one of 13 children. He majored in music at the University of Utah and studied piano and organ with former director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir J. Spencer Cornwall. In 1928, he moved to California, working at radio stations in both San Francisco and Los Angeles as a composer, conductor, arranger, instrumentalist, singer, and announcer. In 1931, he caught the ear of Walt Disney and the rest of the nation when he provided music for the first transcontinental radio broadcast to originate from the West Coast. Leigh joined Disney in 1932, writing tunes for more than 50 animated shorts, including Silly Symphony’s “The Old Mill,” “Music Land,” and “The Pied Piper.” Walt acknowledged Leigh’s skill by entrusting him with scoring the Studio’s first feature-length animated cartoon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, along with Disney Legend Frank Churchill. For this, he received his first Oscar® nomination for Best Music and Score. In 1940, Pinocchio earned Leigh two Academy Awards® for Best Music and Original Score and for Best Song (“When You Wish Upon a Star”). Leigh left Disney the next year to freelance at studios including Columbia, Paramount, and Goldwyn-RKO. During his career, which spanned nearly three decades and garnered eight Oscar® nominations in all, Leigh composed and supervised music for motion pictures including The Pride of the Yankeesstarring Gary Cooper, Johnny Come Latelystarring James Cagney, and George Pal’s The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, all of which earned the composer additional Oscar® nods. By the early 1960s, Leigh expanded his craft into television, creating music for such popular series as Ben Caseystarring Richard Chamberlain and Daniel Boone starring Disney Legend Fess Parker. Leigh Harline passed away on December 10, 1969, in Long Beach, California.