David Raksin's father Isidore, who both conducted and owned a music store, taught his son to play piano as well as woodwind instruments at an early age. He eventually studied music with 'Arnold Schönberg' . He served eight terms as president of the Composers & Lyricists Guild of America. He was awarded the Golden Soundtrack Award in 1992 by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
He had a son, Alex, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times, a daughter, Tina; and three grandchildren.
Wrote the wonderfully, haunting melodic theme song for the 1944 movie "Laura". The inspiration for writing this piece of music was after his first wife separated from him.
Raksin started out working with dance bands and arranging music for Broadway shows. He came to Hollywood to work with Charlie Chaplin on the music for "Modern Times". Chaplin hummed and whistled melodies, and Raksin wrote them down and arranged them into the score.
Brother of Ruby Raksin.
Raskin recorded a commentary track (with film historian Jeanine Basinger) on the DVD of "Laura".
