Famed composer Lalo Schifrin, who created themes for a host of hit Hollywood films and television shows – including the instantly recognisable Mission: Impossible score – died Thursday aged 93, US media reported.
Born in Argentina, Schifrin blended the influences of his classical and symphonic training with jazz and modern sounds in his diverse and vast oeuvre, which includes the scores for around 100 films, some of them the best-known of their generation.
His death was confirmed by his son, Ryan Schifrin, to several entertainment trade publications.
Schifrin's work for film includes The Cincinnati Kid (1965) and Bullitt (1968), both with Steve McQueen, Paul Newman's Cool Hand Luke (1968), and Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry (1971).
He also created the score to the 1960s Mission: Impossible television series, which inspired the theme of the massive film franchise starring Tom Cruise.
A pipe-smoker in his younger years and bespectacled with a mane of silver hair later, he was also a highly respected international orchestra conductor and jazz pianist.
Boris Claudio Schifrin was born in Buenos Aires on June 21, 1932 into a musical family, his father Luis Schifrin being the concert master of the city's Philharmonic Orchestra for 25 years.
He learned piano at a young age, developing an extensive knowledge of classical music.
His introduction in his teens to jazz and the American sound – through its greats such as Charlie Parker, George Gershwin and Louis Armstrong – was like a conversion, he would say later, and set his life on a new course.
Schifrin moved to the United States in 1958 and became a US citizen over a decade later.
In Hollywood, television producer Bruce Geller asked him to create scores for his television series Mission: Impossible (1966) and Mannix (1969).
Schifrin received several Academy Award nominations for his film work including for Cool Hand Luke.
In 2018, he received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement, presented by Eastwood. afp
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