Threatened with internment in England during World War I, he fled to Broadway; and in 1929 he moved to Hollywood, where he became one of the first composers to write music scores for films.

Steiner composed over 300 film scores with RKO Pictures and Warner Bros., and was nominated for 24 Academy Awards, winning three: The Informer (1935); Now, Voyager (1942); and Since You Went Away (1944).

Besides his Oscar-winning scores, some of Steiner's popular works include King Kong (1933), Little Women (1933), Jezebel (1938), and Casablanca (1942), though he did not compose its love theme, "As Time Goes By".

Max Steiner was born on 10 May 1888, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, as the only child in a wealthy business and theatrical family of Jewish heritage.

[4] His parents were Marie Josefine/Mirjam (Hasiba) and Hungarian-Jewish Gábor Steiner [de] (1858–1944, born in Temesvár, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire), a Viennese impresario, carnival exposition manager, and inventor, responsible for building the Wiener Riesenrad.

[4] Steiner's mother Marie was a dancer in stage productions put on by his grandfather when she was young, but later became involved in the restaurant business.

[10]: 2  In his youth, he began his composing career through his work on marches for regimental bands and hit songs for a show put on by his father.

However, many of his future film scores such as Dark Victory (1939), In This Our Life (1941), and Now, Voyager (1942) had frequent waltz melodies as influenced by Eysler.

[7]: 58 In New York, Max Steiner quickly acquired employment and worked for fifteen years as a musical director, arranger, orchestrator, and conductor of Broadway productions.

These productions include operettas and musicals written by Victor Herbert, Jerome Kern, Vincent Youmans, and George Gershwin, among others.

Steiner's credits include: George White's Scandals (1922) (director), Peaches (1923) (composer), and Lady, Be Good (1924) (conductor and orchestrator).

[17] At the time, there was no specially written music for films and Steiner told studio founder William Fox his idea to write an original score for The Bondman (1916).

[1]: 31 Silent film mannerisms are still seen in Steiner's composition such as when actions or consequences are accompanied by a sforzato chord immediately before it, followed by silence.

Steiner became a mainstay at Warner Bros., scoring 140 of their films over the next 30 years alongside Hollywood stars such as Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, and James Cagney.

Steiner explains Scarlett's deep-founded love for her home is why "the 'Tara' theme begins and ends with the picture and permeates the entire score".

Kate Daubney attributes the success of this score to Steiner's ability to "[balance] the scheme of thematic meaning with the sound of the music.

The jangling continues until the wife asks Leslie to take off her shawl, after which the theme blasts indicating the breaking point of emotions of these women.

The theme for Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) is beguiling and ironic, with a playful grace note at the end of the motif, portrayed mixed between major and minor.

Dodge City, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, is a good example of Steiner's handling of typical scenes of the Western genre.

[41] Although his contract ended in 1953, Steiner returned to Warner Bros. in 1958 and scored several films such as Band of Angels, Marjorie Morningstar, and John Paul Jones, and later ventured into television.

In 1954, RCA Victor asked Steiner to prepare and conduct an orchestral suite of music from Gone with the Wind for a special LP, which was later issued on CD.

"[1] A theme for A Summer Place in 1959, written when Steiner was 71, became one of Warner Brothers' biggest hit-tunes for years and a re-recorded pop standard.

I have the film put through a special measuring machine and then a cue sheet created which gives me the exact time, to a split second, in which an action takes place, or a word is spoken.

I believe that, while the American people are more musically minded than any other nation in the world, they are still not entirely familiar with all the old and new masters' works ... Of course there are many in our industry who disagree with my viewpoint.

As the holes pass through a projector, the orchestra and conductor can hear the clicking sound through headphones, allowing them to record the music along the exact timing of the film.

[27] It may be added that Steiner's leitmotifs were more direct and less subtle than those by his contemporary Austrian-emigré competitors in the Hollywood scoring market, such as Erich Korngold or Ernst Toch.

It surges upward in 'masculine' style, whilst Roark's mistress's theme wends downwards in curves of typically feminine shapeliness ...

[51] The United States Postal Service issued its "American Music Series" stamps on 16 September 1999, to pay tribute to renowned Hollywood composers, including Steiner.

[citation needed] In 1975, Steiner was honored with a star located at 1551 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to motion pictures.

[68][9]: 207  Albert K. Bender established the Max Steiner Music Society with international membership, publishing journals and newsletters and a library of audio recordings.