Sybil Bruncheon's "Who'z Dat?"... Happy Birthday to Jerry Goldsmith! (February 10, 1929 – July 21, 2004)

Jerry Goldsmith (born Jerrald King Goldsmith) was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for such films as STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (1979) and four other films within the Star Trek franchise, THE SAND PEBBLES (1966), PLANET OF THE APES (1968), PATTON (1970), LOGAN'S RUN (1976), PAPILLON (1973), CHINATOWN (1974), THE WIND AND THE LION (1975), THE OMEN (1976), THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (1978), CAPRICORN ONE (1978), ALIEN (1979), OUTLAND (1981), POLTERGEIST (1982), THE SECRET OF NIMH (1982), GREMLINS (1984), HOOSIERS (1986), TOTAL RECALL (1990), BASIC INSTINCT (1992), AIR FORCE ONE (1997), L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997), MULAN (1998), THE MUMMY (1999), and THREE RAMBO FILMS.

In May 1997, with the release of Steven Spielberg’s THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK, he gained more popularity with his fanfare of the 1997 Universal Studios opening logo, which would be among the most iconic studio logo music of all time. He worked on both dramas and for many lighter, comedic films such as the family comedy THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS (1966), and the James Bond parodies OUR MAN FLINT (1966) and its sequel IN LIKE FLINT (1967).
During his career, he composed both classical music for orchestra concerts and themes and background music for television shows. He collaborated with some of film history's most accomplished directors, including Robert Wise, Howard Hawks, Otto Preminger, Joe Dante, Richard Donner, Roman Polanski, Ridley Scott, Michael Winner, Steven Spielberg, Paul Verhoeven, and Franklin J. Schaffner. His work for Donner and Scott also involved a rejected score for TIMELINE (2003) and a controversially edited score for ALIEN, where music by Howard Hanson replaced Goldsmith's end titles and Goldsmith's own work on FREUD: THE SECRET PASSION was used without his approval in several scenes.

Goldsmith was nominated for six Grammy Awards, five Primetime Emmy Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, and eighteen Academy Awards (he won only one, in 1976, for THE OMEN). He composed the Paramount Pictures Fanfare used from 1976 through 2011. Over the course of his career, Goldsmith received a total of 18 Academy Award nominations, making him one of the most nominated composers in Academy Awards history. Despite this, Goldsmith won only one Oscar, for his score to the 1976 film THE OMEN. This makes Goldsmith the most nominated composer to have won an Oscar only on one occasion.

Goldsmith died at his Beverly Hills home on July 21, 2004, from colon cancer at the age of 75. He was survived by his wife Carol and his children Aaron, Carrie, Ellen Edson, and Jennifer Grossman, and Joel (who also died of colon cancer on April 29, 2012).

This closing credits composition from THE MUMMY expresses just one beautiful example of his work; Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8d_gMWVujY

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