[2] David Raksin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States,[1] to Jewish parents (of Russian heritage).

He went on to study composition with Harl McDonald at the University of Pennsylvania,[1] and later with Isadore Freed in New York and Arnold Schoenberg in Los Angeles.

[1] During Raksin's lifetime, "Laura" was reportedly the second most-recorded song in history after "Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish.

Raksin's theme for "The Bad and the Beautiful" was initially disliked by the film's director Vincente Minnelli and producer John Houseman, but was saved from rejection by the intervention of Adolph Green and Betty Comden, who both liked it.

[3] In the 1960s, Raksin wrote the theme for (and scored the pilot of) the medical drama television series Ben Casey.