Ted Grouya was born in Bucharest, Romania, and after arriving in the U.S. he studied composition with the brilliant teacher Nadia Boulanger, whose students included Aaron Copeland, Virgil Thompson and Quincy Jones. Although he loved classical music, he was also a jazz fan, especially fond of the music of Duke Ellington. He became active on the Hollywood scene in the 1940s where he worked in public relations and headed the music publishing division of MGM.

Grouya’s “Flamingo” was Duke Ellington’s first hit of 1941 and vocalist Herb Jeffries’ second hit record. The Harry James band took Grouya’s “I Heard You Cried Last Night (And So Did I),” written with Jerrie Kruger for the non-musical film Cinderella Swings It, to the charts in 1943. “In My Arms” was written with Frank Loesser for the 1944 film See Here, Private Hargrove, starring Robert Walker and Donna Reed, and it became a hit for Dick Haymes. That same year Grouya collaborated on the original music for Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, a charming film starring Gail Russell as Cornelia Otis Skinner and Diana Lynn as Emily Kimbrough.

When Grouya and his wife, singer/actress Mary Meade separated in 1955, he continued to work as her manager.

His son Theodore Christopher Grouya, also known as Ted or Teddy, is a noted filmmaker who debuted as the director of Jerks in 2000 and who produced and directed the award-winning documentary Why Vivaldi? in 2002.

- Sandra Burlingame