Lionel Newman of Famous Hollywood Musical Clan

Lionel Newman, a member of Hollywood’s famous Newman clan who was known almost as much for his salty dialogue as for his sweeping melodies, has died of a heart attack at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

The Oscar award-winning conductor (for “Hello Dolly!”) and composer was 73 and died Friday. He had retired about 3 1/2 years ago as senior vice president of the music department at 20th Century Fox, where he had worked for 45 years.

He was the brother of Alfred Newman, who scored 300 motion pictures before his death in 1970, and the uncle of Randy Newman (nominated for Academy Awards for “Ragtime” and “The Natural”).

There were seven Newman boys out of New Haven, Conn. Not all pursued musical careers, but of those who did, Alfred and Lionel were the better known.

In September, 1985, on the eve of retirement with Fox, Lionel reminisced about his long affiliation with the studio complex where Century City now stands. (Although “retired,” he later took an executive position with MGM/UA Communications, where he worked on film and TV projects and also toured as conductor of the Boston Pops orchestra.)

And what Newman remembered that day went even beyond film’s glory years of the 1930s--back to a time when he was a rehearsal pianist for showman Earl Carroll and a conductor for Mae West.

In highly quotable but often unprintable language, he recalled the day that Miss West chastised him for what she saw as excessive movement in the orchestra pit.

“After the first show, Mae grabs me backstage and says, ‘They ain’t comin’ to see you, honey; keep your damn hands in fronta you.’ ”

Lionel Newman said he had followed Alfred to Hollywood, adding: “We all followed him; he couldn’t get away from us.” Lionel began as a rehearsal pianist for Fox, eventually working his way up to conduct some of the 50-piece orchestras that provided the lush film scores of Hollywood’s so-called Golden Age.

In another interview, he remembered being so nervous in his first conducting job that he couldn’t keep the tempo straight. “But I found myself doing more and getting pictures on my own. I must say I got all the (bleep) pictures for a while, but it was a (bleep) learning period.”

He went on to score “Cheaper by the Dozen,” “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and “Doctor Doolittle” and won the Academy Award for 1969’s “Dolly!” (which he shared with Lennie Hayton). He also wrote the score for “Love Me Tender,” Elvis Presley’s film debut, and conducted scores for “Cleopatra,” “The Omen” and “Planet of the Apes.” An early success was his popular song “Again” from the 1948 Ida Lupino film “Road House.”

Nearly four years ago he was saluted by the New American Orchestra. Jack Elliott, music director of that group, called attention to Lionel’s propensity for referring to himself as either Alfred Newman’s brother or Randy Newman’s uncle.

“I wasn’t around” when Lionel Newman began in Hollywood, Elliott said. “But you can imagine going up against the reputation of Al Newman in this town.” (Alfred Newman won his first Oscar for “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” in 1938 and his eighth and last for “Camelot” in 1967.)

“He (Lionel) hasn’t just continued in the family tradition of excellence, but he has added to it.”

Survivors include his wife, the former Earl Carroll dancer and Carroll’s cousin, Beverly Carroll, three daughters, five grandchildren, a brother, Irving, who is Randy Newman’s father, and three sisters.

Besides Alfred, he had three other brothers who preceded him in death who were major Hollywood figures: Emile, head of the Samuel Goldwyn music department; Marc, an agent for musicians, and Robert, a studio executive.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles.