Anton Karas - The Third Man

Anton Karas (July 7, 1906 – January 10, 1985) was a Viennese zither player, best known for his soundtrack to Carol Reed's The Third Man. The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, northwestern Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures, including China. The term "citre" is also used more broadly, to describe the entire family of stringed instruments in which the strings do not extend beyond the sounding box. It is played by strumming or plucking the strings like a guitar.

Born in Vienna, of Hungarian and Czech origin, one of five children of a factory worker, Anton Karas was already keen on music as a child. He later reported that his first zither was one he found in his grandmother's attic, at the age of 12.

In his early carrier, he earned his living as an entertainer in a Heuriger (a wine bar, typically with a garden, usually selling this year's new wine).

In Vienna one night director Carol Reed listened to a wine-garden zitherist named Anton Karas, [and] was fascinated by the jangling melancholy of his music. Reed later brought Karas to London, where the musician spent six weeks working with Reed on the score.

The film became a tremendous success and by the end of 1949, a half million copies of "The Harry Lime Theme" had been sold, an unprecedented amount for the time. The success of the score also caused a surge in zither sales. The exposure made Karas an international star.

" The above text is a mashup from Wikipedia."