Biography for
André Previn More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

6 April 1929, Berlin, Germany

Birth Name

Andreas Ludwig Prewin

Spouse

Anne-Sophie Mutter	(1 August 2002 - June 2006) (divorced)
Heather Mary Hales	(8 January 1982 - 25 January 1999) (divorced) 1 child
Mia Farrow	(10 September 1970 - 31 January 1979) (divorced) 6 children
Dory Previn	(7 November 1959 - 27 July 1970) (divorced)
Elizabeth "Betty" A. Bennett	(24 August 1952 - September 1958) (divorced) 2 children

Trivia

Was married to Dory Previn, lyricist, poet, author, and schizophrenic, around the time he was scoring Porgy and Bess (1959). They were divorced around the time she was writing the theme for the movie The Sterile Cuckoo (1969).

Appeared as a willing stooge on "The Morecambe & Wise Show" (1968) where he was called Andrew Preview.

His twins with Mia Farrow, Matthew and Sascha, were born before they were married. He is also the father of Fletcher Farrow Previn.

Former son-in-law of John Farrow and Maureen O'Sullivan.

Adoptive father of Soon-Yi Previn, Lark Song Previn and Daisy Previn.

Ex-brother-in-law of John Charles Farrow, Prudence Farrow, Stephanie Farrow and Tisa Farrow.

His father's cousin is Charles Previn

Was nominated for Broadway's 1970 Tony Award for his music as part of a Best Musical nomination for "Coco."

Is portrayed by Robert LuPone in Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story (1995) (TV)

He was made an honorary Knight of the British Empire in 1996 for his services to music.

Personal Quotes

[on film studio orchestras] It has often been remarked that the sight-reading ability of these orchestras was legendary, and I have to add my voice to that existing chorus. These players were genuinely amazing. They would show up each morning, utterly unaware of what it was they were expected to record that day. It could have been a score by Alex North or Bernard Herrmann, or David Raksin or Miklos Rozsa, or just as easily a Tom and Jerry cartoon or a dance number for Fred Astaire. They would casually glance at the parts on their stands, the ink still wet, and would proceed to play with the same expert disdain a professional parking lot attendant uses to back a new convertible into a tight space.

The 1990 teenagers feel that they have coined both the term 'cool' and the mannerisms that illustrate the word, but they are in fact a good thirty-five years too late to claim that invention.

I found that jazz musicians, possibly more than their classical counterparts, wear long-standing friendships easily and gracefully. Their friendships are not governed by advancement through social contact, and tend to be governed by a very simple rule: If they like the way you play,and if they believe you to be a nice fellow, then fine. If one of those elements is badly missing, forget it.

[on working for MGM] I loved the studio. I loved the way it smelled, I was crazy about Indians in the lunchroom, and Romans making phone calls, and the highly charged and technically dazzling music making on the recording stage. Most of all I loved being a part of it, a part of a peculiar fraternity, belittled and superior at the same time, envied for all the wrong reasons and commiserated with for the stuff we all took in our stride.

[on scoring movies] When I composed, I heard my music played by the orchestra within days of completion of the score. No master at a conservatory, no matter how revered, can teach as much by verbal criticism as can a cold and analytical hearing of one's own music being played. I would mentally tick the results as they came at me: that was pretty good, you can use that device again, that was awful, too thick, that mixture makes the woodwinds disappear, that's a good balance, and so on.