Robert Cobert

Robert Cobert (born October 26, 1924) is an American composer who has worked in television and films. He is best known for his work with producer/director Dan Curtis, especially on the TV mini-series The Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988). Together, the scores for these constitute the longest film music ever written for a movie. His early work included composing the soap opera Dark Shadows and the two tie-in films, and for composing the score for the 1972 TV movie The Night Stalker, together with The Night Strangler, which became the pilots for the TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. His other scores include the horror film Burnt Offerings (1976), the comedy film Me and the Kid (1993), and the TV movies The Norliss Tapes (1973), Dracula (1973), Scream of the Wolf (1974), Melvin Purvis: G-Man (1974), The Turn of the Screw (1974), The Great Ice Rip-Off (1974), Trilogy of Terror (1975), Dead of Night (1977), Curse of the Black Widow (1977) and Trilogy of Terror II (1996). Aside from his film work, Cobert also composed many game show themes with most being associated with shows produced by Goodson-Todman Productions and Bob Stewart Productions. His most notable themes in that genre include the themes for To Tell the Truth (1961-1967 theme), Password (1963-1967 theme), Blockbusters (1980-1982 theme), The $25,000 Pyramid (1982 update, also used in 1991, and re-recorded in 2012 and 2016), Your Number's Up (1985 theme) and Chain Reaction (1980, 1986-1991 theme, itself a remake of the theme from Supertrain). Cobert did the music for the NBC soap opera The Doctors for a number of years as well as the ABC soap opera The Young Marrieds and the 1980-1981 CBS reality series That's My Line. He has written several pieces for violist John Peskey, including "Concert Piece for Viola and Small Orchestra", which Peskey commissioned and premiered with the South Dakota Symphony. "Contrasts" for Viola and Cello, "Three Moods for Two Violas" and "Music for Only One Lonely Viola" also for Peskey.