Keith Williams

KEITH ROLLINS WILLIAMS July 25, 1924-December 27, 2008 Keith was born in Garfield, Utah. At the age of two he moved to California. He went to John H. Francis Polytechnic High School, and attended Occidental College, obtaining his Bachelor of Arts in music. After completing a tour of duty in the Air Force in 1945, he organized his own 14-piece dance band, which played extensively in and around the South West. Throughout his career he studied under leaders in his field - writing, conducting, arranging and creating 12-tone compositions. Upon disbanding the dance group he became Staff Orchestrator for Walter Lantz cartoons. moving on to become Staff Composer f or Gene Autry Range Writer Productions for TV. A change of pace saw him take over the chores of Capitol Producer - Capitol Writer for the TV show "Melody Time" on KTTV, as well as executive producer for TV Unlimited Productions. During his multifaceted career, Keith arranged, orchestrated and composed for no less than 28 full length motion pictures, 42 cartoons and 7 commercial films. His best known work was as Musical Director and Conductor for Charles Chaplin's film, "Limelight". Keith's desire to ag ain form a big band returned. He organized a new 17-piece band labeled "The Dazzling Sound", recording for Liberty Records, an album which was considered one of the All Time Best Selling Albums. The orchestra was listed in the 1957 Disc Jockey Poll as one of America's top ten "most promising Orchestras". During this time, he traveled with Johnny Mathis and the "Hi-Lo's". Other highlights in his career were were serving as Arranger and Copysit Representative and President of the Musician's Union Local-4 7, as well as President of the California Copywrite Conference. In the meantime, Keith earned his Master's degree in music at CSUN. He went on to teach music in both private and public school systems, retiring from LAUSD in 1988. Keith is survived by his daughter, Kelly Ticsay; son-in-law, Ariel; 4 granddaughters, Shelby, Chelsea, Casey and Karlie; his brother, Ross Williams; and Laverne, his wife of 35 years. Visit www.dailynews.com to express condolences and sign this guest book