In the 1930s Antheil's music grew more traditional, but at the same time he found difficulty making a living, and at various times he wrote film scores, conducted a lonely-hearts column, and wrote for Esquire Magazine. Among other pieces, he wrote a series of articles for Esquire on glandular-analysis (endocrinology was his hobby). Antheil was a good friend of writer Jack Woodford.

His autobiography, Bad Boy of Music (1945), was a popular success, and it remains a vivid and entertaining account of his experiences. In the last two decades of his life he was in demand as a composer of operas and film scores. Long after his death, his work in yet another field was belatedly recognized: he and Hedy Lamarr are credited with inventing the frequency-hopping spread spectrum technique for signal transmission in 1942. He died in 1959, in New York City leaving his wife, Boski, and two surviving children, Peter, and Chris.
 

Written Works

Everyman His Own Detective: A study of glandular criminology (1937)
The Shape of the War to Come (1940)
Death In the Dark
Bad Boy of Music (1945)

Film Scores

The Spectre Of The Rose
Buccaneer, The (1938)
Pride and the Passion, The (1957)
20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) (uncredited)
Young Don't Cry, The (1957)
Werewolf, The (1956) (uncredited)
Juggler, The (1953)

Operas

The Brothers (1954)
Helen Retires (1930-31)
Venus in Africa (1954)
Volpone -- A Satire in Music(1949-52)
The Wish (1954)
Transatlantic