Kaper Bronisław, *5 February 1902 Warsaw, †26 April 1983 Los Angeles, Polish composer and conductor. He graduated from university with a law degree (1925) and from the conservatory in Warsaw with a music degree. In the early 1930s, he moved to Berlin and began working in film. His first international success came in 1933 with the song Ninon in the film Ein Lied für Dich (I Must Win You Over), which was popularised by J. Kiepura, who played the lead role in the film. In the mid-1930s, Kaper settled in Hollywood, where he worked with Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer from 1940. He composed music for several dozen feature films, many of which gained worldwide popularity. Kaper’s first American success was the title song from the 1936 film San Francisco, which was also used in the 1945 film Nob Hill and the 1959 film Key to the City. Other well-known films from this studio with Kaper’s music included The Brothers Karamazov, Lord Jim, Green Dolphin Street (the title song became a jazz standard), Gaslight, The Swan, Green Mansions, Mutiny on The Bounty and The Stranger.
He gained the greatest acclaim and worldwide fame in 1953 with the song Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo (known in Poland as Laleczki, moje laleczki) from the film Lili, for which he received an Oscar. A year earlier, his title song from the film Invitation enjoyed great popularity. Kaper is one of the most famous Polish composers of entertainment film music.
