Leopold Stokowski

Symphony conductor Leopold Stokowski is credited with making the Philadelphia Orchestra into one of the world's finest and for repopularizing classical music, making it more accessible to mass audiences. Of Polish-Irish extraction, he got his professional start as an organist at the St. James Church in London at age 18. He moved to the U.S. near the turn of the century and became a citizen in 1915. With his signature white hair and handsome face, Stokowski made his movie debut opposite Deanna Durbin in her smash hit One Hundred Men and a Girl in 1937. Three years later, he persuaded Walt Disney to make the classical music-based animated feature Fantasia. In 1941, he was awarded a special Oscar for his "unique achievement in creating a new form of visualized music." In the early '60s, Stokowski founded the American Symphony Orchestra and launched a series of cross-country and world tours. Stokowski continued recording music up until he died at age 95. ~ Sandra Brennan Full Biography »