List of Danny Elfman film and television appearances

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In addition to contributing scores to over 100 feature films and themes to television series, Danny Elfman has made a number of appearances in film and on television, typically as himself, in a singing role or as the lead singer of Oingo Boingo. For a full list of Elfman's compositions and discographies, see the List of compositions by Danny Elfman page, his film and concert music discography page and the Oingo Boingo discography page.

YearFilm/ShowRoleDirectorStudio/DistributorNotes / Accolades
1976"The Gong Show"Himself (uncredited) Chuck Barris (Host/Producer) NBC Performed trombone with The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo; the group won the episode scoring 24 points out of 30 [1]
1977 I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Drummer (uncredited) Anthony Page Shout! FactoryDrummer, uncredited
Hot Tomorrows Singer Martin Brest American Film InstituteAppeared with The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo performing the song "St. James Infirmary Blues" [2]
1981 Urgh! A Music War HimselfDerek BurbidgeLorimarAs lead singer/songwriter of Oingo Boingo [3]
Longshot (aka Long Shot Kids) E.W. Swackhamer Greentree ProductionsAs lead singer/songwriter of Oingo Boingo [4]
1982 Forbidden Zone Satan Richard Elfman Fantoma
1984 Good Morning, Mr. Orwell Himself Nam June Paik WNET TV, NYC / Centre Pompidou, ParisAs lead singer/songwriter for Oingo Boingo [5]
1986 Back to School Alan Metter Orion Pictures As lead singer/songwriter for Oingo Boingo [6]
1993 The Nightmare Before Christmas Jack Skellington (singing voice), Barrel, Clown with the Tear Away Face (voices) Henry Selick Touchstone Pictures In addition writing and producing the score and ten original songs, Elfman provided the singing voice of main character Jack Skellington, among others [7]
1996 Farewell: Live from the Universal Amphitheatre, Halloween 1995 HimselfDanny Elfman, Steve Bartek, Ellen Engel (producers) A&M Records Appears as lead singer of Oingo Boingo in live concert recording of their final shows as a band
Released on VHS concurrent with the album and in 2001 on DVD; currently out-of-print [6]
Includes ten minutes of footage of Elfman performing with The Mystic Knight of the Oingo Boingo in the 1970s
1997 Flubber Les Mayfield Walt Disney Pictures, Great Oaks
2000 The Gift Tommy Lee Ballard Sam Raimi Paramount Classics
2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Oompa-Loompas (voices, uncredited) Tim Burton Warner Bros. In addition to composing the film's score and songs, Elfman provided the singing voices for all Oompa Loompa characters. [8]
Corpse Bride Bonejangles (voice)
2006 The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson HimselfTim Mancinelli, Brian McAloon CBS Television Studios Appears as the second guest on December 19, season three, episode 64 [9]
Discusses early career, scoring Charlotte's Web and his brother Richard, who gave Ferguson his first film role
2008Proud IzaNarrator (voice)Anna CondoFern FilmsIn addition to providing narration, Elfman's music from Standard Operating Procedure was used for this short film [10]
2010DemiUrge Emesis Aurelio Voltaire Self produced by VoltairePart of Voltaire's stop motion short film series "Chimerascope" featuring voice-overs by music icons including Deborah Harry, Richard Butler and Gerard Way [11]
2015 Live from Lincoln Center: Danny Elfman's Music from the Films of Tim BurtonHimselfAndrew Carl Wilk, Jim Fagan PBS Performed songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas [12]
Won Outstanding Music Direction at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards, [13] Elfman's second Emmy Award
2016 Score Matt Schrader Gravitas Ventures Appeared among over 50 film composers [14] discussing the craft of writing music for movies and influential figures in the business [15]
2019 The Imagineering Story Leslie Iwerks Disney+ Appears in episode 5, "A Carousel of Progress", to discuss his compositions for Hong Kong Disneyland's Mystic Manor [16]
2020Prop CultureJason C. HenryEpisode: "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas"

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References

  1. Metzger, Richard (June 6, 2011). "The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo on the 'Gong Show,' 1976". DangerousMinds.net. Retrieved October 8, 2019. ...movie maestro Danny Elfman and his brother Richard Elfman were the leaders of the sprawling weirdo performance art/musical troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. Formed in early 70s Los Angeles, here's a look at what their act back then was like, with this 1976 appearance on The Gong Show... Danny is playing the trombone... They won that episode, receiving 24 points out of a possible 30, without getting gonged.
  2. Maslin, Janet (October 4, 1977). "'Hot Tomorrows' Is Grim Film". The New York Times . Retrieved October 9, 2019. At the club, an eerie-looking combo in heavymakeup is playing "St. James infirmary"... Paracise Ballroom sequence performed by the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo...
  3. Palmer, Robert (April 1, 1983). "ROCK MUSIC WAR". The New York Times . Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  4. Cahill, Devon (March 13, 2019). "Review: LONGSHOT (1981)". BadTransfer. Retrieved October 9, 2019. Trivia tidbit: I'm not an Oingo Boingo fan, but for whatever it's worth, they perform at the Foosball Spectacular.
  5. Schneider, Martin (June 15, 2017). "Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson, Oingo Boingo, Allen Ginsberg, John Cage & Others Usher in 1984". DangerousMinds. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  6. 1 2 Buck, David. "Mystic Knights of the Movie Soundtrack", Tedium, March 14, 2018.
  7. Ng, David (October 24, 2015). "Danny Elfman can relate to 'Nightmare Before Christmas' hero Jack Skellington". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  8. Lowman, Rob (July 18, 2019). "It's music to Oompa Loompa by". Orlando Sentinel. Things got a little crazy at composer Danny Elfman's home studio when he began creating the singing parts for the Oompa Loompa songs in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory... Elfman laid down the vocals in his home. He did every part six times.
  9. "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Episode #3.64". IMDB.com. n.d. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  10. "Proud Iza 2008 Directed by Anna Condo". LetterBoxD.com. n.d. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  11. "CHIMERASCOPE SHORT FILM SERIES". Voltaire.net. n.d. Retrieved October 8, 2019. Narrators involved in the Chimerascope series so far include Deborah Harry of Blondie, Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs, Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance and Danny Elfman.
  12. "Live from Lincoln Center: Danny Elfman's Music from Films of Tim Burton". PBS.org. October 30, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  13. "Danny Elfman: Awards & Nominations". PBS.org. Retrieved September 19, 2019. Outstanding Music Directions - 2016 Winner - Danny Elfman, Music Direction by - Danny Elfman's Music From The Films of Tim Burton (Live From Lincoln Center) - PBS - A Lincoln Center Media Production.
  14. "The Interviews". Score-Movie.com. Epicleff Media. n.d. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  15. Goldstein, Gary (June 22, 2017). "Review: 'Score: A Film Music Documentary' explores composers' art". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved September 20, 2019. Matt Schrader's "Score: A Film Music Documentary" spotlights such a rich and fascinating topic — the craft of motion picture scoring — that its mere presence proves a feast for the eyes and ears...the film is largely devoted to feting some of Hollywood's most influential composers...
  16. Iwerks, Leslie (December 6, 2019). "A Carousel of Progress". The Imagineering Story. Season 1. Disney+. Retrieved December 10, 2019.