Robert Cobert was an American composer who worked in television and films. He is best known for his work with producer/director Dan Curtis, notably the scores for the massively popular, now-cult 1966–71 ABC-TV gothicsoap operaDark Shadows and the TV mini-series The Winds of War and its sequel War and Remembrance, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination. Together, the latter two scores constitute the longest film music ever written for a film. His early work includes not only Dark Shadows but the two tie-in feature film releases House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows. Cobert also composed the scores for the 1972 TV movie The Night Stalker, the sequel The Night Strangler and the offshoot 1974–75 TV series '. His other scores include the horror filmBurnt Offerings, the comedy film Me and the Kid and the TV moviesThe Norliss Tapes, Dracula, Scream of the Wolf, ', The Turn of the Screw, The Great Ice Rip-Off, Trilogy of Terror, Dead of Night, Curse of the Black Widow and Trilogy of Terror II. Cobert also composed many TV game show themes, the bulk of them associated with shows produced by Goodson-Todman Productions and Bob Stewart Productions. Of note are TV themes for To Tell the Truth, Password, Blockbusters, The $25,000 Pyramid, Your Number's Up and Chain Reaction. Cobert scored the music for multiple episodes of the 1963–71 NBCdaytime soap operaThe Doctors and the 1964–66 ABCdaytime soap opera The Young Marrieds, and also the 1980–1981 CBS reality series That's My Line. In September 1969 the original TV soundtrack to Dark Shadows, credited to the Robert Cobert Orchestra and featuring 16 tracks written or co-written by Cobert, reached no. 18 on Billboards Top 200 album chart. The song "Quentin's Theme" earned Cobert a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Theme, but lost to John Barry's theme for Midnight Cowboy. A recording of "Quentin's Theme" by the Charles Randolph Grean Sounde was released as a single, and in August 1969 peaked at no. 13 on Billboards Hot 100 chart. He composed several pieces for American violist John Peskey, including "Concert Piece for Viola and Small Orchestra", which Peskey commissioned and premiered with the South Dakota Symphony. Plus "Contrasts for Viola and Cello", "3 Moods for 2 Violas" and "Music for Only One Lonely Viola", also for Peskey. Cobert died from pneumonia in Palm Springs, California on February 19, 2020, aged 95.
