Richard Robbins (composer)

Richard Stephen Robbins (December 4, 1940 – November 7, 2012) was an American-born composer, best known for his motion picture scores for the Merchant Ivory films.

Robbins was born in South Weymouth, Massachusetts. In November 2012, he died of Parkinson's disease at the age of 71. He died at his home in New York.^[1]

Robbins began playing the piano at the age of five. He graduated from the New England Conservatory in Boston, and later received a fellowship through a fund established by the philanthropist Frank Huntington Beebe to continue his studies in Vienna.^[2]

Robbins was gay and lived his later years with his long-term partner, artist Michael Schell.^[2]

Robbins was nominated for an Oscar in 1992 for his score for the film Howards End (performed by Martin Jones) and in 1993 for The Remains of the Day.^[3] Additionally, he won a Sammy Film Music Award in 1992 for Howards End.^[4]

Robbins wrote the score for the following films unless otherwise noted:

• Sweet Sounds (1976); short film; director only
• Roseland (1977); assistant to producer Ismail Merchant
• The Europeans (1979)
• Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980)
• Quartet (1981)
• Heat and Dust (1983)
• The Bostonians (1984)
• A Room with a View (1985)
• Sweet Lorraine (1987)
• My Little Girl (1987)
• Maurice (1987)
• The Perfect Murder (1988)
• Slaves of New York (1989)
• Love and Other Sorrows (1989, TV)
• Bail Jumper (1990)
• Mr & Mrs Bridge (1990)
• The Ballad of the Sad Café (1991); directed by Simon Callow
• Howards End (1992)
• The Remains of the Day (1993)
• Street Musicians of Bombay (1994); also director
• Jefferson in Paris (1995)
• Surviving Picasso (1996)
• The Proprietor (1996)
• Lumière and Company: segment "Merchant Ivory" (1996)
• The Hidden Dimension (1997)
• A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998)
• Place Vendôme (1998); directed by Nicole Garcia
• Cotton Mary (1999); directed by Ismail Merchant
• The Golden Bowl (2000)
• The Girl (2000), directed by Sande Zeig
• The Mystic Masseur (2001)
• Le Divorce (2003)
• The White Countess (2005); directed by James Ivory