The youngest of the children of nine-time Academy Award-winning composer/conductor Alfred Newman and former Goldwyn Girl and businesswoman Martha Louis Montgomery, Maria Newman is part of the musical Hollywood Newman family dynasty. Her father, Alfred Newman, (1900-1970), was the conductor of the original Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Her family was of Jewish background.MacDonald, Laurence E. The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History, Scarecrow Press (2013)
