Lalo Schifrin, the five-time Grammy-winning composer of the Mission: Impossible theme and six-time Oscar nominated maestro on movies such as Dirty H
Lalo Schifrin, the five-time Grammy-winning composer of the Mission: Impossible theme and six-time Oscar nominated maestro on movies such as Dirty Harry, Cool Hand Luke, and Bullitt, has sadly died at the age of 93. As reported by Variety, the Argentine-American multi-instrumentalist passed away earlier today of complications related to pneumonia.
Born into a musical family in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 21 June, 1932, it wouldn’t be misleading to say that music was in Boris Claudio Schifrin’s blood. His father, Luis Schifrin, was the concertmaster of Buenos Aires’ Philharmonic Orchestra, and by the tender age of just six, juvenile Lalo had already begun a six-year course studying piano. Even a spell studying sociology and law at university as a juvenile man couldn’t distract Schifrin from his true calling: by the age of 20, Lalo — who had developed a particular love for jazz as a boy — found himself playing piano by night in the clubs of Paris; and by 30, the gifted musician had moved to Los Angeles and released seven albums as a much sought-after jazz composer.
It was with the one-two punch of his immortal, Grammy-winning theme for the original Mission: Impossible TV series and bluegrass infused, Oscar-nominated Cool Hand Luke score in 1967 that Schifrin truly announced his arrival as one of film and television’s fresh greats. From there, the hits just kept coming and coming as Schifrin brought his indelible, eclectic musical stylings to a slew of iconic movies and shows. In a career spanning over 100 scores, Schifrin gave us the instantly recognisable themes for shows like The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Mannix, and Starsky & Hutch; became a regular Clint Eastwood collaborator, scoring such films as Kelly’s Heroes, Dirty Harry, The Beguiled, Joe Kidd, and Magnum Force; and picked up Oscar nods for his work on The Fox, The Voyage Of The Damned, The Amityville Horror, The Sting II, The Competition, and the aforementioned Cool Hand Luke. To this day, Lalo Schifrin remains one of only four composers to have received an Honorary Oscar from the Academy in recognition of his contributions to the form.
And it’s not just the iconic themes, the star collaborations, or the Academy acknowledged compositions that place Lalo Schifrin in a league of his own, either — it’s the sheer expansivity of his body of work that astounds. In George Lucas’ THX 1138, Lalo experiments with synthesisers and established orchestral elements to conjure a disorientating dystopian soundscape; on Enter The Dragon, a gig Schifrin landed off the back of star Bruce Lee finding himself working out to the Mission: Impossible theme, Lalo goes toe-to-toe with the on-screen action as he busts out the wah-wah guitars and thumping bass-lines on a proto-funk odyssey; and there is a robust argument to be made that the Argentinian music maker’s jazz-and-blues infused Bullitt soundtrack is one of the most swaggeringly cold of its era (just give ‘Ice Pick Mike’ a listen if you need any convincing.) Furthermore, the fact that musicians as varied as Limp Bizkit, Hans Zimmer, and Danny Elfman have all reinterpreted Schifrin’s work over the years speaks volumes about the reach and experimental edge Lalo brought to his music.
All of which is to say that the loss of Lalo Schifrin is one that will be keenly felt throughout the film world. Taking to BlueSky shortly after news broke of Schifrin’s passing, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse composer Daniel Pemberton — who had interviewed Lalo before going on to become a feted score maker in his own right — paid tribute to “a proper gent” and “a genius at combining rhythm, texture, instrumentation and melody”. “He smoked a pipe with a white dot on it,” reminisced Pemberton of their brief encounter, “had monogrammed shirts and often coughed so hard I thought he might keel over in the interview (don’t smoke kids) but was absolutely charming and warm to a young kid asking dumb questions. DUDE.”
Upon receiving his Honorary Oscar in 2018, Lalo Schifrin said, “Composing for movies has given me a lifetime of joy and creativity. Receiving this Honorary Oscar is a culmination of a dream. It is Mission Accomplished.” It would be fair to say that the great man’s work has given — and will continue to give — us and so many others a lifetime of joy and creativity for generations to come. Our thoughts are with Lalo’s wife Donna, his children Will, Ryan, and Frances, his four grandchildren, and the rest of his friends and family at this hard time.
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