Reginald Hazeltine Bassett (September 3, 1878 – April 24, 1951) was an American composer and orchestrator who led a prolific career in film. He contributed music to over one hundred major movies from the 1920s to the 1940s. He is virtually unknown because he worked under a film studio system that not only controlled the copyrights to his music but also allowed others to take screen credit for his work.

Bassett worked collaboratively on film score compositions with other Hollywood composers from Ira Gershwin to Hugo Friedhofer:

In any event, Friedhofer talks at length about Bassett in his oral history, mentioning the scores on which he worked with him (including Intermezzo and Gone With the Wind) and Bassett's association with Forbstein's predecessor at Warner Bros., Lou Silvers.^[1]

Extant filmography

Music department

Family

Reginald Hazeltine Bassett was born September 3, 1878, in Oakland, California, to the marriage of James Madison Bassett (1830–1903) and Carrie Hazeltine (maiden; 1958–1943). He was married three times.

1. Bassett first married on January 22, 1905, in Monterey, California, to Alyse Lourdes Hunt (maiden; 1880–1969), her first of four marriages. They divorced July 25, 1906, in San Francisco.
2. Bassett married again on April 19, 1912, in Oakland, California, to Rosina E. McIntosh (maiden; 1891—1973), her first of two marriages. They divorced in 1916 in San Francisco.
3. Bassett then married on July 25, 1927, in Santa Ana, California, to Estelle Carlton Day (maiden; 1885–1951), her third marriage. Estelle predeceased Reginald by eighty-two days.^[2]

References