Alexander Courage

Alexander Mair Courage Jr. (December 10, 1919 – May 15, 2008) familiarly known as “Sandy” Courage, was an American orchestrator, arranger, and composer of music, primarily for television and film. He is best known as the composer of the theme music for the original Star Trek series. Early life The son of a Scottish father and a French-American mother, Alexander “Sandy” Mair Courage was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father Alexander Sr. immigrated to the United States in 1913 and obtained work in a munitions factory supplying France during World War I, where he met his future wife. They married in 1917. While Sandy was still a young child, his father joined the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company as a salesman and moved the family to New Jersey. The family relocated regularly as his father earned promotions, requiring Sandy to switch schools. His gift for music was noticed and encouraged at an early age. Courage’s father arranged for young Sandy to learn the bugle as his own father had been in a band and he himself was an enthusiastic parlor singer. When Courage wanted to learn the cornet, his father got him one. Courage developed an uncanny ear for accompaniment. His tendenc