Buddy Bregman

Biography

Buddy Bregman has long been internationally known as a multi-talented producer, director, writer, composer, conductor, arranger in the fields of music, records, television and motion pictures. A native of Chicago, after high school, he entered UCLA and during his sophomore year, his professional career got underway at the age of 17 with Lieber & Stoller who wrote his first Rock & Roll hit record for Capitol, I Need Your Lovin'.

He began as an arranger/conductor/A&R head of Verve on records, TV shows and feature films, working in his first two years in the business with many stars and scoring/orchestrating many major studio films: Pajama Game (WB), Crime in the Streets (UA), Secret of the Purple Reef (FOX), etc, and quite a few for Roger Corman: Five Guns West, etc.

Shortly thereafter, he recorded the first of 5 gold single records (2 of them going platinum). Buddy also turned his attention to composing music for films: Buddy Bregman's Cole Porter Songbook and Rodgers & Hart Songbook, double albums with Ella Fitzgerald, both which he arranged and conducted, have been elected as two of the top 25 albums of all time in almost every magazine poll and record guide book.

Asimilar honor was accorded his album with Bing Crosby: Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings which he arranged and conducted. All were recorded on Verve, the record company Buddy helped start and served as head of A&R. All three albums having gone platinum!

After his tenure at Verve Records, Buddy made the transition to producing and directing in television and films. InterTel, an international television organization, hired him to produce and direct a series of TV specials in Europe. England, France and Germany, which have been seen throughout the world. The success of these programs led BBC Television to invite Buddy to London to produce and direct major specials and series, the first time a foreigner was ever signed to a long-term contract. This proved lucrative for both parties, as Bregman was nominated Director of the Year upon completion of his first year with the network. After his tenure at the BBC, the London ITV Network soon engaged Buddy as Head of Entertainment for their commercial network.

Buddy stayed with them until he was offered an opportunity with the Royal Shakespeare Company to write their first stage musical, Jump Jim Crow. He then went into London-based independent TV and film production. His first feature film starred Olivia Newton-John, which he produced and directed.

Upon his return to the United States, Buddy accumulated a long list of credits in the capacity of producer and director on many television pilots, (5 of which (BBC/ABC co-productions) were written by him), MOW's, specials (many written by him) and series. As TV producer, Buddy Bregman has developed over 50 pilot scripts, working with over 35 American and English writers/writing teams.