Samuel ‘Sandy’ Matlovsky, 82; Stage and TV Conductor, Composer

Samuel “Sandy” Matlovsky, 82, a composer, conductor and musical director for stage, film and television, died Feb. 17 of natural causes at his home in Haverhill, Mass.

Born in the U.S. Canal Zone in Panama, Matlovsky moved to France at 15 as the youngest student accepted by the Paris Conservatory of Music.

After serving in the Navy in the Pacific Theater of World War II, he worked in New York City as conductor of a revival of “Porgy and Bess” and musical director of off-Broadway productions of “Threepenny Opera” and “Mother Courage.”

Matlovsky spent much of the 1950s in Europe, touring with “Porgy and Bess” and with entertainers who included Eartha Kitt.

He moved to Hollywood in the 1960s, where he composed and arranged music for such films as “Namu, the Killer Whale,” “Games,” “Gentle Giant” and “Fish Hawk.”

He also worked steadily in television, providing music for such series as the original “Star Trek” and movies ranging from “The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones” in 1966 to “Blackmailers Don’t Shoot” in 1989.