Mission Impossible theme composer dies aged 93

The composer winner of a Grammy Award of the Mission: Impossible Theme, Lalo Schifrin, died at the age of 93, announced his family.

The son of the Argentinian musician, Ryan Schifrin, confirmed that his father had died of the complications of pneumonia Thursday, in a press release shared with the American partner of the BBC CBS.

Schifrin was known for his hardy style and unique jazzy during a career that lasted more than six decades, with more than 100 sound and television soundtracks on his name.

He was nominated for six Oscars and won four grammys, including three for his most famous theme for the TV series Mission: Impossible in 1966, which he then updated for the successful film franchise Tom Cruise.

Schifrin’s family said that he had “passed peacefully” surrounded by dear beings and thanked the audience for his moving messages of support.

The Academy of Arts and Sciences of the Cinematographic Film paid tribute to the compositions of “genius” of the musician who “built the tension, ignited adrenaline and gave stories their pulse”.

“We will always remember the composer who has transformed each beat into a thrill, and each silence in suspense,” he said in an article on X.

The prolific artist – composer, pianist and conductor – was a coherent nomine in Oscars with scores for films such as Sting II, Cool Hand Luke, The Amityville Horror and Dirty Harry.

In 2018, Schifrin received an Oscar of honorary life presented by Dirty Harry, the leader Clint Eastwood, who praised his “unique musical style, his composition integrity and his influential contributions to the art of film score”.

During the acceptance of honor, the Argentinian musician said that the composition for the film had given him “a life of joy and creativity” and that the price was “a highlight of a dream”.

“It’s a mission: accomplished,” he said at the time.

Born in a musical family in Buenos Aires, Schifrin studied the classic piano when he was a child before moving to Paris at the beginning of the twenties to play jazz – later sharing the scene with famous artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie.

After a move to America, he started writing for Hollywood with an eccentric mixture of musical genres, including jazz, classical, contemporary and pop.

His most unforgettable melody for mission: impossible was written in an unusual signature of 5/4 and, in his words, was intended to inject “a little humor, lightness” to form a theme “which did not take too seriously”.

The result has become a global ear worm to present one of the most successful film franchises, with the last iteration mission: impossible – the last calculation of $ 540 million (393 million pounds sterling) in the world.