Stephen Hartley Dorff (born April 21, 1949) is an American songwriter and composer who has written many pop music and country music songs covered by major artists, as well as film scores, TV themes, and musical theater compositions.
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Career
Dorff has written several songs for other artists, including "Hypnotize the Moon" and "My Heart Will Never Know" for Clay Walker, "The Man in Love with You" and "I Cross My Heart" by George Strait, "Don't Underestimate My Love for You" by Lee Greenwood, "Every Which Way but Loose" by Eddie Rabbitt and "Through the Years" by Kenny Rogers. He also composed the themes for Spenser: For Hire, Murphy Brown, The Singing Bee, Just the Ten of Us and others.
In addition, Dorff was a co-writer of the song "I Just Fall in Love Again" with composers Larry Herbstritt, Harry Lloyd, and Gloria Sklerov. "I Just Fall in Love Again", originally recorded by The Carpenters but not released as a single, became a major pop hit for Anne Murray, peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1979. Steve Dorff also wrote the music score for the song "As Long As We Got Each Other" from the popular family TV sitcom Growing Pains, with John Bettis writing the lyrics. He collaborated with Bettis again on Josephine, a musical about singer Josephine Baker.
Dorff was the music supervisor for Pure Country (1992) and Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010). Since 2009, he has been the bandleader on the CMT revival of The Singing Bee, for which he also composed the theme music.
Dorff has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and five Emmy Awards. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.
Personal life and family
Dorff is the father of actor Stephen Dorff and songwriter Andrew Dorff, who died at age 40 on December 19, 2016.
Filmography
1982 Waltz Across Texas
1982 Honkytonk Man
1985 Rustlers' Rhapsody
1987 The Quick and the Dead
1987 Back to the Beach
1987 My Best Friend Is a Vampire
1989 Pink Cadillac
1992 Pure Country
1995 Breaking Free
1996 Coyote Summer
1996 The Undercover Kid
1997 Lunker Lake
1998 Dancer, Texas Pop. 81
1999 Blast from the Past
1999 Dudley Do-Right
2000 The Cactus Kid
2002 Mi Amigo
2008 Jake's Corner
2010 Pure Country 2: The Gift
2017 The Meanest Man in Texas
2023 Dead Man's Hand
2025 The Legend of Van Dorn