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music

TV composer and bandleader Van Alexander dies at 100

July 20, 2015, 9:07AM By MeTV Staff

On his 23rd birthday, Van Alexander a jazz arranger working in Harlem, cowrote and recorded "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" with Ella Fitzgerald. The musician led his own band and eventually moved to L.A. in 1945, where he became a successful composer in Hollywood.

For five decades, Alexander scored music for film and television. He started with Mickey Rooney, penning the score to The Atomic Kid and The Mickey Rooney Show in 1954. The piano ace would go on to craft soundtrack music for The Donna Reed Show, Hazel, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour and more. (Though, if you're wondering, he did not write the theme songs.) He garnered Emmy nominations for his work on Gene Kelly and Jonathan Winters variety shows in the 1970s.

Alexander celebrated his 100th birthday earlier this year with a bash in Los Angeles. He died of heart failure on Sunday, Variety reports.

Listen to some of his work below.