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Herbert Stothart (11 September 1885 - 1 February 1949) was a composer, born of Scottish and Bavarian descent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

He studied music in Europe and at the University of Wisconsin, where he also later taught. He was hired by the producer Arthur Hammerstein to be the musical director for touring companies of Broadway shows, and was soon writing music for the producer's nephew, Oscar Hammerstein II. This successful collaboration led to Stothart's teaming with Vincent Youmans, Otto Harbach, Rudolf Friml, George Gershwin and Franz Lehár. In 1929 Stothart was signed to a Hollywood contract by Louis B. Mayer.

The composer spent his remaining 20 years at MGM, composing, arranging, adapting, and conducting scores for over 100 feature films. He served as music director for the Jeanette MacDonald/ Nelson Eddy musicals and also wrote music for After the Thin Man, Anna Karenina, China, David Copperfield, The Good Earth, The Green Years, Idiot's Delight, Marie Antoinette, Madame Curie, Mrs. Miniver, Random Harvest, Mutiny on the Bounty, National Velvet, Naughty Marietta, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Pride and Prejudice, Rasputin And The Empress, A Tale of Two Cities, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, Treasure Island, The White Cliffs Of Dover, Waterloo Bridge, Wife vs. Secretary, The Valley of Decision, The Yearling and many other pictures. He wrote more film scores for MGM during this time than any other composer, and it is his music (with the exception of E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen's songs for The Wizard Of Oz) that is most associated with MGM film scores between 1928 and 1949.

Stothart was nominated for a number of Oscars, winning for The Wizard Of Oz, for which he wrote and arranged the incidental music, much of which was based on Harburg and Arlen's songs for the film. He died in Los Angeles, California.