Composer Lalo Schifrin, renowned for writing the theme for the ‘Mission: Impossible’ series, later adapted for film, as well as over 100 other scores for film and television, passed away on Thursday at the age of 93.
His children, William and Ryan, confirmed his death to the media.
The Argentine composer won four Grammys and was nominated for six Oscars, with nominations for the original scores of ‘Cool Hand Luke,’ ‘The Fox,’ ‘Voyage of the Damned,’ ‘The Amityville Horror,’ and ‘The Sting II.’
Schifrin, also a jazz pianist and classical conductor, had a remarkable music career that included working with Dizzy Gillespie and recording with Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan. However, perhaps his most significant contribution was the instantly recognizable score for the television series ‘Mission: Impossible,’ which fueled a decades-long film saga led by Tom Cruise.
“Each film has its own personality. There are no rules for writing music for films,” Schifrin told the Associated Press in 2018, arguing that “it’s the film that dictates what the music will be.”
He also composed the musical show for the final match of the World Cup in Italy in 1990, where The Three Tenors – Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and José Carreras – performed together for the first time, making it one of the best-selling classical music events in history.
Schifrin initially wrote a different piece for the ‘Mission: Impossible’ theme, but series creator Bruce Geller preferred another arrangement Schifrin had composed for an action sequence.
“The producer called me and said: ‘You have to write something exciting, almost like a logo, something that will be a signature, and it will start with a fuse,'” Schifrin told AP in 2006.
“So I did that, and there was nothing on the screen. And maybe the fact that I was so free and didn’t have images to capture, maybe that’s why this thing became so successful – because I wrote something that came from within me,” the late composer added at the time.
When director Brian De Palma was invited to bring the series to the big screen, he wanted to include the theme, which led to a creative clash with composer John Williams who wanted to work with a new theme. Williams left, and Danny Elfman came in, agreeing to keep Schifrin’s music.
The ‘Mission: Impossible’ series won Grammys for the best instrumental theme and best original score for a film or television program.
In 2017, the theme was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Schifrin transitioned easily between genres, winning a Grammy for ‘Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts,’ in 1965, and was also honored in the same year for the score of the television series ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’. In 2018, he received an honorary Oscar, and in 2017, the Latin Grammy Awards honored him with one of its special curator awards.
His later film scores include ‘Tango,’ ‘Rush Hour’ and its two sequels, ‘Bringing Down The House,’ ‘The Bridge of San Luis Rey,’ ‘After the Sunset,’ and the horror movie ‘Abominable.’
While composing for ‘Dirty Harry,’ Schifrin decided that the main character was not Clint Eastwood’s hero, Harry Callahan, but the villain, Scorpio.
“You would expect the composer to pay more attention to the hero. But in this case, no, I did it for Scorpio, the bad guy, the villain,” he told AP.
It was Clint Eastwood who presented him with the honorary Oscar.
“Receiving this honorary Oscar is the culmination of a dream, it’s a mission accomplished,” Schifrin said at the time.
