Lalo Schifrin dies at 93; composer created iconic ‘Mission: Impossible’ theme

By Mark Kennedy Associated Press Lalo Schifrin the composer who wrote the endlessly catchy theme for Mission Impossible and more than other arrangements for film and television died Thursday He was Schifrin s sons William and Ryan ratified his death to agreement outlets The Associated Press messages to Schifrin s publicist and representatives for either brother were not at once returned The Argentine won four Grammys and was nominated for six Oscars including five for original points for Cool Hand Luke The Fox Voyage of the Damned The Amityville Horror and The Sting II Related Articles Bill Moyers the former White House press secretary turned acclaimed TV journalist dead at Former SJSU football star Chandler Jones dies at age after road accident Bobby Sherman teen idol in the s and s and later a CPR facilitator dies at Menlo Park scientist killed in Nevada crash Sanford and Son The Waltons actress Lynn Hamilton dies at age Every movie has its own personality There are no rules to write music for movies Schifrin informed The Associated Press in The movie dictates what the music will be He also wrote the grand finale musical performance for the World Cup championship in Italy in in which the Three Tenors Pl cido Domingo Luciano Pavarotti and Jos Carreras sang together for the first time The work became one of the biggest sellers in the history of classical music The the greater part contagious tune ever heard Schifrin also a jazz pianist and classical conductor had a remarkable career in music that included working with Dizzy Gillespie and recording with Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan But perhaps his biggest contribution was the instantly recognizable sum to television s Mission Impossible which fueled the just-wrapped decades-spanning feature film franchise led by Tom Cruise Written in the rare time signature the theme Dum-dum DUM DUM dum-dum DUM DUM was married to an on-screen self-destruct clock that kicked off the TV show which ran from to It was described as only the majority contagious tune ever heard by mortal ears by New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane and even hit No on the Billboard Hot in Schifrin originally wrote a different piece of music for the theme song but series creator Bruce Geller liked another arrangement Schifrin had composed for an action sequence The producer called me and informed me You re going to have to write something exciting almost like a logo something that will be a signature and it s going to start with a fuse Schifrin stated the AP in So I did it and there was nothing on the screen And maybe the fact that I was so free and I had no images to catch maybe that s why this thing has become so achieving because I wrote something that came from inside me When director Brian De Palma was appealed to take the series to the silver screen he requested to bring the theme along with him leading to a creative conflict with composer John Williams who desired to work with a new theme of his own Out went Williams and in came Danny Elfman who agreed to retain Schifrin s music Hans Zimmer took over scoring for the second film and Michael Giacchino scored the next two Giacchino informed NPR he was a hesitant to take it on because Schifrin s music was one of his favorite themes of all time I remember calling Lalo and asking if we could meet for lunch Giacchino reported NPR And I was very nervous I felt like someone asking a father if I could marry their daughter or something And he declared Just have fun with it And I did Mission Impossible won Grammys for best instrumental theme and best original points from a motion picture or a TV show In the theme was entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame U members Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr covered the theme while making the soundtrack to s first installment that version peaked at No on the Billboard with a Grammy nomination A commercial for Lipton tea depicted a young Schifrin composing the theme at his piano while gaining inspiration through sips of the brand s Lipton Yellow Label Musicians dropped from the sky as he added elements Early life filled with music Born Boris Claudio Schifrin to a Jewish family in Buenos Aires where his father was the concertmaster of the philharmonic orchestra Schifrin was classically trained in music in addition to studying law After studying at the Paris Conservatory where he learned about harmony and composition from the legendary Olivier Messiaen Schifrin returned to Argentina and formed a concert band Gillespie heard Schifrin perform and appealed him to become his pianist arranger and composer In Schifrin moved to the United States playing in Gillespie s quintet in - and composing the acclaimed Gillespiana The long list of luminaries he performed and recorded with includes Ella Fitzgerald Stan Getz Dee Dee Bridgewater and George Benson He also worked with such classical stars as Zubin Mehta Mstislav Rostropovich Daniel Barenboim and others Schifrin moved easily between genres winning a Grammy for s Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts while also earning a nod that same year for the total of TV s The Man From U N C L E In he was given an honorary Oscar statuette and in the Latin Recording Academy bestowed on him one of its special trustee awards Later film scores included Tango Rush Hour and its two sequels Bringing Down The House The Bridge of San Luis Rey After the Sunset and the horror film Abominable Writing the arrangements for Dirty Harry Schifrin decided that the main character wasn t in fact Clint Eastwood s hero Harry Callahan but the villain Scorpio You would think the composer would pay more attention to the hero But in this episode no I did it to Scorpio the bad guy the evil guy he narrated the AP I wrote a theme for Scorpio It was Eastwood who handed him his honorary Oscar Receiving this honorary Oscar is the culmination of a dream Schifrin stated at the time It is mission accomplished Beyond film and TV Among Schifrin s conducting credits include the London Symphony Orchestra the Vienna Symphony Orchestra the Israel Philharmonic the Mexico Philharmonic the Houston Symphony Orchestra the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra He was appointed music director of Southern California s Glendale Symphony Orchestra and served in that threshold from - Schifrin also wrote and adapted the music for Christmas in Vienna in a concert featuring Diana Ross Carreras and Domingo He also combined tango folk and classical genres when he recorded Letters from Argentina nominated for a Latin Grammy for best tango album in Schifrin was also commissioned to write the overture for the Pan American Games and composed and conducted the event s final performance in Argentina And for perhaps one of the only operas performed in the ancient Indigenous language of Nahuatl in Schifrin wrote and conducted the choral symphony Songs of the Aztecs The work premiered at Mexico s Teotihuacan pyramids with Domingo as part of a campaign to raise money to restore the site s Aztec temple I ascertained it to be a very sweet musical language one in which the sounds of the words dictated compelling melodies Schifrin stated The Associated Press at the time But the real answer is that there s something magic about it There s something magic in the art of music anyway In addition to his sons he s survived by his daughter Frances and wife Donna