Eleanor Aller Slatkin, a cellist who played with the highly regarded Hollywood String Quartet throughout its existence from 1947 to 1961, has died. She was 78.
Mrs. Slatkin, critically acclaimed member of a prominent musical family, died Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
A native New Yorker and the daughter and granddaughter of cellists, Mrs. Slatkin performed at Carnegie Hall at the age of 12.
After studying at Juilliard, she came to Los Angeles, where she played in the Warner Bros. studio orchestra from 1939 to 1968. She met her husband, Felix, a violinist and conductor of the 20th Century Fox studio orchestra, at a Hollywood Bowl music contest that he won.
Together, they anchored the Hollywood String Quartet, which performed and recorded classical and contemporary music.
Their Los Angeles home was as full of musicians as music, ranging from Igor Stravinsky to Danny Kaye and Frank Sinatra.