Andre Previn, former L.A. Phil music director and four-time Oscar winner, dies at 89

André Previn conquered L.A. with his artistic genius not once, but twice — first as a four-time Academy Award winning composer of Hollywood movie music, then as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

But Previn was also a man of mixed feelings about L.A., as he expressed in his last major interview with The Times in 2014. The city helped spark a love of music and launched his career, but it also caused him so much consternation that he vowed never to set foot here again — a promise he kept for more than two decades.

“I was very successful and made a lot of money,” he said, recalling his L.A. years during an interview with The Times’ David Ng in New York. “And then I stepped away and said to myself, ‘Listen, you’ve had it, get out of here.’ ”

Previn — conductor, composer and pianist who toggled between classical, pop and jazz and whose great talent could not be contained by one city — died Thursday after a short illness at his home in New York, his manager Linda Petrikova said. He was 89.

Previn took over as music director of the L.A. Phil from Carlo Maria Giulini in 1985 and remained in the post until his acrimonious departure in 1989, bristling at what he deemed interference by L.A. Phil manager Ernest Fleischmann.

At the time of his resignation, Previn also was principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London. He began his orchestral career as music director of the Houston Symphony in 1967, then went on to become principal conductor of the London Symphony in 1968. From 1976-84 he served as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra before his appointment in L.A.

“Mr. Previn bridged the gap between classical music and Hollywood in a way no one else did,” Rachel Moore, president and chief executive of the Music Center, where the L.A. Phil is a resident company, said via email. “He will forever be missed both here in Los Angeles and around the world.”

Simon Woods, chief executive of the L.A. Phil, issued a statement calling Previn’s death “a great loss to the L.A. Phil family, and to the entire music world.”

“He was an extraordinary, beloved musician of tremendous versatility who had a long and fascinating career and did so much to bring wide audiences to classical music,” Woods said.

ANDRE PREVIN: The conductor’s last major interview with The Times »

Previn leaves hundreds of recordings, a vast range of music that includes two albums with singer Dinah Shore and an album of Christmas carols with Julie Andrews. Other collaborators included Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, J.J. Johnson and Doris Day. He recorded solo piano performances of music by popular composers such as Vernon Duke and Harold Arlen, and he also recorded jazz renditions of Broadway musicals.

Previn was born Andreas Ludwig Priwin on April 6, 1929, in Berlin. His family was Jewish and fled Germany in 1938 for Paris, then New York, before finally settling in Los Angeles, where Previn was raised under the family’s new surname. He graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1946.

His playful and passionate connection with music came early. As a teen, Previn improvised on the piano during silent-film screenings at L.A.’s Rhapsody Theatre.

Previn — whose great-uncle Charles Previn was an Oscar winner and music director of Universal Studios — entered the world of film at age 16. MGM hired him to arrange music for film scores, and he went on to write and arrange movie music, winning Oscars for “My Fair Lady” (1964), “Irma la Douce” (1963), “Gigi” (1958) and “Porgy and Bess” (1959).

In 1961 Previn made Oscars history by earning three nominations, for the scores of “Bells Are Ringing” and “Elmer Gantry” as well as the song “Faraway Part of Town” from the film “Pepe.”

As a performer in the 1960s, he played classical and jazz concerts. Versatility was a hallmark of his career, and as a composer he wrote orchestral works and chamber music as well as musicals and operas.

In 2014, Los Angeles Opera put on Previn’s “A Streetcar Named Desire,” based on the Tennessee Williams play — a production that President and Chief Executive Christopher Koelsch called “an immensely artistically gratifying experience for the company.”

“Both the nature of the piece itself and the style of the production had as much in common with the emotional intensity of spoken word as it did with opera. It was revelatory for people,” Koelsch said, adding that Previn’s passing “is an enormous loss for the world of music.”

Renée Fleming, who sang Blanche DuBois in that production of “Streetcar,” noted by email the maestro’s rare combination of skill, experience and ambition.

“So few composers would have the courage to set such an iconic play as ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ but I think André’s early career in Hollywood gave him the skills to shape that hugely dramatic piece.” she said.

Previn earned 10 Grammy Awards during his career. The Recording Academy honored Previn with its lifetime achievement award, the Special Merit Award, in 2010 alongside the likes of Leonard Cohen, Michael Jackson, Loretta Lynn and Bobby Darin. Previn received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1998.

Previn was married five times. His first two wives were musicians: jazz singer Betty Bennett and singer-songwriter Dory Previn. His third wife was actress Mia Farrow, with whom he had three biological children and three adopted children, including Soon-Yi Previn. After Previn and Farrow divorced, Farrow partnered with filmmaker Woody Allen, who eventually left that relationship and married Soon-Yi. In 2013 Vanity Fair asked Previn to sum up his relationship with his daughter. His response: “She does not exist.”

Previn and his fourth wife, Heather Sneddon, were married for 20 years. His fifth wife was concert violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. They divorced in 2006.

Film composer John Williams cited Previn as one of his oldest friends.

“In everything he did, he brought a keen intelligence, sharp wit and an array of talents that was formidable,” said Williams, who knew Previn since they were teenagers. “He was comfortably at home with Gene Kelly, Miles Davis, Mozart and Mahler — a true Renaissance man. And we have been fortunate indeed to have shared the light he brought to this sometimes dreary world for nearly 90 years.”