Lalo Schifrin: Mission Impossible theme composer dies aged 93
The Grammy Award-winning composer of the Mission: Impossible theme, Lalo Schifrin, has died aged 93, his family announced.
The Argentine musician’s son, Ryan Schifrin, confirmed his father died of complications from pneumonia on Thursday, in a statement shared with the BBC’s US partner CBS.
Schifrin was known for his unique percussive and jazzy style during a career that spanned more than six decades, with over 100 film and TV soundtracks to his name.
He was nominated for six Oscars and won four Grammys, three of which were for his most celebrated theme for the Mission: Impossible TV series in 1966, which he later updated for the Tom Cruise blockbuster film franchise.
Schifrin’s family said he “passed peacefully” surrounded by loved ones and thanked the public for their moving messages of support.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences paid tribute to the musician’s “genius” compositions which “built tension, ignited adrenaline and gave stories their pulse”.
“We’ll forever remember the composer who turned every beat into a thrill, and every silence into suspense,” it said in a post on X.
The prolific artist – a composer, pianist and conductor – was a consistent nominee at the Oscars with scores for films such as The Sting II, Cool Hand Luke, The Amityville Horror and Dirty Harry.
In 2018, Schifrin received an honorary lifetime achievement Oscar presented by Dirty Harry lead Clint Eastwood, who hailed his “unique musical style, his compositional integrity, and his influential contributions to the art of film scoring”.
When accepting the honour, the Argentine musician said composing for film had given him “a lifetime of joy and creativity” and the award was “a culmination of a dream”.
“It is a Mission: Accomplished,” he said at the time.
Born into a musical family in Buenos Aires, Schifrin studied classical piano as a child before moving to Paris in his early 20s to play jazz – later sharing the stage with famous artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie.
After a move to America, he began writing for Hollywood with an eccentric blend of musical genres including jazz, classical, contemporary and pop.
His most unforgettable melody for Mission: Impossible was written in an unusual 5/4 time signature and, in his words, was intended to inject “a little humour, lightness” to form a theme “that didn’t take itself too seriously”.
The result became a global earworm to introduce one of the most successful film franchises, with the latest iteration Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning crossing $540m (£393m) worldwide.
