Churchill was born on October 20, 1901, in Rumford, Maine, the son of Clara E. (Curtis) and Andrew J. Churchill.[1]
Churchill began his career playing piano in cinemas at the age of 15 in Ventura, California. After dropping out of medical studies at UCLA to pursue a career in music, he became an accompanist at the Los Angeles radio station KNX (AM) in 1924.
You may hear Frank Churchill's song "With a Smile and a Song" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as performed by the Shep Fields' Rippling Rhythm Jazz
Orchestra and John Serry in 1937 Here on ucsb.edu
In 1937, he was chosen to score Disney's first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with Paul Smith and Leigh Harline. His catchy, artfully written songs played a large part in the film's initial success and continuing popularity.
Churchill died by suicide on May 14, 1942, at his ranch north of Los Angeles in Castaic. He is purported to have died "at the piano" of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Although there is some speculation that his suicide was a result of negative discourse with Walt Disney regarding his latest scores for Bambi, it was more likely due to his deep depression and bout with heavy drinking after the deaths of two of his closest friends and fellow Disney orchestra members who had died earlier that year within a month of each other.[citation needed] He was survived by his wife Carolyn and his daughter Corrine. He was buried in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
