Ernest Gold was born as Ernst Goldner in Vienna. At age of sixteen he studied violin and piano at the Wiener Musilakademie. Following the Anschluss, he immigrated to the USA in 1938. From 1945 Gold composed music for the films and worked together with George Antheil, who gave him lessons in music theory (theory of musical forms and counterpoint) free of charge. Ernst Gold started writing his own music (1958) at Warner Brothers, and was awarded an Oscar prize for the music he composed for the film Exodus, directed by Otto Preminger. In addition to to music for the films, he composed choir and chamber music. Ernst Gold died in Pacific Oalisades, California, in 1999.