He was chief arranger for the Stan Kenton Orchestra in its 1940s heyday and a prolific composer and arranger for television and film, including “The Thin Man,” “Richard Diamond, Private Detective,” “The Fugitive,” “Run for Your Life,” “Leave It to Beaver,” “The Bold Ones: The Lawyers,” “Alias Smith and Jones” and “M*A*S*H.”
After Stan Kenton dissolved his group in 1949, Rugolo became the music director of Capitol Records in New York. There, in addition to producing Harry Belafonte’s early pop records and the Four Freshmen, he signed the Miles Davis Nonet, which played arrangements by Gil Evans, Gerry Mulligan and others. Rugolo also recorded dozens of his own albums and wrote arrangements for a long list of singers that included Nat King Cole, June Christy, Dinah Washington and Mel Tormé.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/arts/music/pete-rugolo-arranger-and-composer-is-dead-at-95.htm
