Harry Rosenthal

Harry Rosenthal (born May 15, c. 1893, Belfast, Ireland; died May 10, 1953) was an orchestra leader, composer, pianist, and actor whose career spanned stage, screen, and concert work on both sides of the Atlantic.

Rosenthal's musical career took shape in London during the 1920s, where he worked as a composer, bandleader, and pianist. During that period he composed five operettas, all of which achieved considerable success. He arrived in the United States by 1929, the same year he contributed songs to Herbert Stothart's Broadway musical Polly. In 1930 he appeared as an actor in June Moon, the play written by Ring Lardner and George S. Kaufman, which returned to Broadway in a revival in 1933. He also appeared on Broadway in Heigh-Ho, Everybody. At some point Rosenthal met Edward, the Prince of Wales, at a reception, and subsequently accompanied the heir to the British throne on a world tour.

His film career ran from 1931 to 1948 and encompassed 19 productions. On screen he took on roles as pianists, orchestra leaders, and characters outside the musical sphere. Beyond acting, he contributed to films in other capacities, composing music for The Sin of Harold Diddlebock and serving as a conductor on For Me and My Gal. During the early 1940s, Rosenthal became a regular presence in the films of writer-director Preston Sturges, appearing in every Sturges production from The Great McGinty (1940) through The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947), with the sole exception of Hail the Conquering Hero.

Despite the generally modest scale of his screen roles, Rosenthal was a recurring subject in gossip columns in both New York and Hollywood. He died of a heart attack on May 10, 1953, and his death received notice in the press.