Born August 15, 1901 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Ned was the only one of nine children who did not study music. Rather, he wrote poems, some of which were published in local newspapers and magazines. At 21, he moved to New York to break into show business, booking acts in vaudeville theaters and emceeing shows. He wrote songs in his spare time and, in 1928, famed Broadway producer Earl Carroll used one of Ned’s creations in his popular stage revue Vanities. A year later, Warner Brothers hired him to write lyrics for talking pictures; these would include the popular song “Singing in the Bathtub,” featured in the all-star flick Show of Shows. In 1932, bandleader Tommy Dorsey adopted Ned’s “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” as his signature tune and, in 1933, Ned collaborated with crooner Bing Crosby, writing lyrics for the love song “A Ghost of a Chance.” Ned arrived at Disney in 1938 and received Oscar® nods for “Baby Mine,” featured in Dumbo, and for the title song of Saludos Amigos. Ned also wrote lyrics for “I’m a Happy-Go-Lucky Fellow,” featured in the “Mickey and the Beanstalk” sequence of Fun and Fancy Free. During his 40-plus year career, he wrote music with famed composers including Victor Young (“Stella by Starlight” for The Uninvited in 1944) at studios ranging from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to Paramount. Other popular standards by Ned include “Nearness of You” with Hoagy Carmichael, and “Someday I’ll Meet You Again” with Max Steiner. His unique flair for penning motion picture title songs—he wrote 40 in all—led to High Noon, starring Gary Cooper; it earned Ned his third Academy Award®. The High and the Mighty, starring John Wayne, won him another of 12 total Oscar® nominations. In between motion pictures, he wrote for radio and stage, and, crossing over into early television, created theme songs for such series as Rawhide. Ned Washington passed away on December 20, 1976 in Beverly Hills, California.