Lalo Schifrin

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist

Lalo Schifrin (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlalo ˈʃifɾin];<ref name="forvo">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> born Boris Claudio Schifrin; June 21, 1932 – June 26, 2025) was an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He was best known for his large body of film and television scores, which incorporate jazz and Latin American musical elements alongside traditional orchestration.

Schifrin's best known compositions include the themes from Mission: Impossible (1966) and Mannix (1967), as well as the scores to Cool Hand Luke (1967), Bullitt (1968), THX 1138 (1971), Enter the Dragon (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), Voyage of the Damned (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), The Amityville Horror (1979) and the Rush Hour trilogy (1998–2007). Schifrin was also noted for collaborations with Clint Eastwood from the late 1960s to the 1980s, particularly the Dirty Harry film series. He composed the Paramount Pictures fanfare used from 1976 to 2004.

Schifrin was a five-time Grammy Award winner; he was nominated for six Academy Awards and four Emmy Awards. In 2019, he received an Honorary Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in recognition of his successful career.

Life and career

Early life and education

Schifrin was born in Buenos Aires on June 21, 1932<ref name="Sweeting">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="r659">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> as Boris Claudio.<ref name="Huey">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The nickname "Lalo" was the normal Argentine diminutive for his second name, Claudio. When he came to the U.S., he changed his name to Lalo legally to simplify his contracts.<ref name=Brown>Template:Citation</ref>

His father, Luis Schifrin, led the second violin section of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic for three decades.<ref name="Huey" /><ref name="Burlingame" /> His father was Jewish and his mother Catholic, exposing him early to both kinds of worship.<ref name="Burk">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At age six, Schifrin began a six-year course of study on piano with Enrique Barenboim, the father of pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim. Schifrin began studying piano with the Greek-Russian expatriate Andrea Karalin, the onetime head of the Kiev Conservatory and harmony with Juan Carlos Paz.<ref name="Burlingame" /> During this time, Schifrin also became interested in jazz.Template:R

Although Schifrin studied sociology and law at the University of Buenos Aires, he became more interested in music.<ref name="Huey" /> At age 20, he successfully applied for a scholarship to the Conservatoire de Paris where he studied from 1952, including with Olivier Messiaen<ref name="Burlingame" /> and Charles Koechlin.<ref name="Sweeting" /> He also studied African drumming.<ref name="Burk" /> At night, he played jazz in Paris clubs.<ref name="Burlingame" /> In 1955 Schifrin played piano with bandoneon player Ástor Piazzolla and represented his country at the International Jazz Festival in Paris.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1956–1963: Jazz composer

After returning to Argentina in his twenties, Schifrin formed a jazz big band<ref name="Burlingame" /> of 16 players that became part of a popular weekly variety show on Buenos Aires TV. He also began accepting film, television and radio assignments. In 1956 he met Dizzy Gillespie<ref name="Burlingame" /> and offered to write an extended work for Gillespie's big band. Schifrin completed the work, Gillespiana, in 1958<ref name="Huey" /> and it was recorded in 1960.<ref name="Burlingame" />

While in New York City in 1960, Schifrin again met Gillespie, who had by this time disbanded his big band for financial reasons. Gillespie invited Schifrin to fill the vacant piano chair in his quintet. Schifrin immediately accepted and moved to New York City, as Gillespie's pianist and arranger.<ref name="Burlingame" /><ref name="Burk" /> Schifrin wrote a second extended composition for Gillespie, The New Continent, which was recorded in 1962.<ref name="Burlingame" /> On May 26, 1963, he recorded an album, Buenos Aires Blues, with Duke Ellington's alto saxophonist, Johnny Hodges. Schifrin wrote two compositions for the album; Dreary Blues and the title track B. A. Blues.

1964–1989: Film composer

In 1963, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which had Schifrin under contract, offered the composer his first Hollywood film assignment with the African adventure Rhino!<ref name="Huey" /> Schifrin moved to Los Angeles.<ref name="Burlingame" /><ref name="Burk" /> He became a naturalized US citizen in 1969.<ref name="Burk" />

Record of Mission: Impossible theme
Record of Mission: Impossible theme

One of Schifrin's most recognizable and enduring compositions is the theme music for the long-running TV series Mission: Impossible that started in 1966.<ref name="Burlingame" /> It is a distinctive tune written in the uncommon Template:Music time signature.<ref name="Burlingame" /> The meter (dash dash, dot dot) is Morse code for the letters M and I. Similarly Schifrin's theme for the Mannix private eye TV show was composed in 1967 as a jazz waltz;<ref name="Burlingame" /> Schifrin composed several other jazzy and bluesy numbers over the years as additional incidental music for the show.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Schifrin's "Tar Sequence" from his Cool Hand Luke score (written in Template:Music) was the longtime theme for the Eyewitness News broadcasts on New York station WABC-TV and other ABC affiliates, as well as Nine News in Australia; it was used into the 1990s.<ref name="Burlingame" /> CBS Television used part of the theme of his St. Ives soundtrack for its golf broadcasts in the 1970s and early 1980s. Schifrin's score for the 1968 film Coogan's Bluff was the beginning of a long association with Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel.<ref name="CSO" /> Schifrin's strong jazz-blues riffs were evident in Dirty Harry.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The jazzy Bullitt score for this Peter Yates directed film was recorded in December of the same year.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1973 he incorporated funk and traditional film score elements into soundtrack for the Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He composed the score by sampling sounds from China, Korea, and Japan. The soundtrack has sold over 500,000 copies, earning a gold record.<ref name="press.uillinois.edu">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Schifrin's working score for 1973's The Exorcist was rejected by the film's director, William Friedkin.<ref name="indie" /> Schifrin had written six minutes of difficult and heavy music for the initial film trailer, but audiences were reportedly frightened by the combination of sights and sounds.<ref name="indie">Template:Cite news</ref> As reported by Schifrin in an interview, Warner Bros. executives told Friedkin to instruct Schifrin to tone it down with softer music, but Friedkin did not relay the message.<ref name="indie" /> Schifrin said that working on the film was one of the most unpleasant experiences in his life.<ref name="indie" /> He later reused the compositions in other scores.<ref name="indie" /> In 1976 he released a single called "Jaws", a version of the John Williams theme from the Universal Pictures film Jaws, on CTI (Creed Taylor Incorporated) records. The single spent nine weeks on the UK chart, peaking at number 14.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He also composed the 1976 fanfare for Paramount Pictures, which was used mainly for their home video label and was adapted for the television division 11 years later until it was renamed to CBS Paramount Television (now CBS Studios) in 2006.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1981 he wrote the music for the slapstick comedy film Caveman.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1990–2025: Final years

In the 1990s, Schifrin wrote many of the arrangements for The Three Tenors concerts,<ref name="Burlingame" /> beginning with their first concert in Rome in 1990 on the eve of the FIFA World Cup final.<ref name="Sweeting" /> In the 1998 film Tango, he returned to tango music, with which he had grown familiar while working as Piazzolla's pianist in the mid-1950s. He brought traditional tango songs to the film, as well as introducing compositions of his own, in which tango is fused with jazz elements.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He founded Aleph Records in 1998.<ref name="Burlingame" /> Schifrin made a cameo appearance in the 2002 film Red Dragon.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He is widely sampled in hip-hop and trip-hop songs including Heltah Skeltah's "Prowl" and Portishead's "Sour Times". Both songs sample Schifrin's "Danube Incident", one of many themes he composed for specific episodes of the Mission: Impossible TV series. In 2003, Schifrin was commissioned to compose a classical work entitled Symphonic Impressions of Oman by Sultan Qaboos bin Said. In 2004, he wrote the main theme for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, a stealth game published by Ubisoft.

On April 23, 2007, Schifrin presented a concert of film music for the Festival du Film Jules Verne Aventures (Festival Jules Verne), at Le Grand Rex theatre in Paris–Europe's biggest movie theater.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was recorded by festival leaders for a CD named Lalo Schifrin: Le Concert à Paris. In 2010, a fictionalized account of Lalo Schifrin's creation of the "Theme from Mission: Impossible" tune was featured in a Lipton TV commercial aired in a number of countries around the world.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

After Rod Schejtman won the 2024 Vienna WorldVision Composers Contest,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Schifrin in 2024 invited him to jointly compose a symphony dedicated to their country.<ref name="Perfil">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They composed a 35-minute symphony in three movements, subtitled "Long Live Freedom",<ref name="Burlingame" /> for an orchestra of nearly 100 musicians. Intending it as a tribute to Argentina, they drew inspiration from the nation's history over the past 40 years and fused cinematic and classical elements.<ref name="Perfil" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The symphony premiered at the Teatro Colón on April 5, 2025.<ref name="Burlingame" />

Personal life

Schifrin married Sylvia Schon in Buenos Aires in 1958; they had two children<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The marriage ended in divorce.<ref name="Sweeting" /> He married Donna Cockrell in 1971; they had a son. His second wife managed his business and record label.<ref name="Sweeting" /><ref name="Burlingame" />

In 2008 Schifrin wrote an autobiography, Mission Impossible: My Life in Music.<ref name="Burlingame" /><ref name="Schifrin">Template:Cite book</ref> He said:

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Schifrin died from complications of pneumonia at a hospital in Los Angeles, on June 26, 2025, at the age of 93.<ref name="Burlingame">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Works

Discography

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Selected filmography

Film

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  • Tango (1998)<ref name="Tango">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Rush Hour 2 (2001)<ref name="AP">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Television

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Video game

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Awards and nominations

Schifrin won five Grammy Awards (four Grammy Awards and a Latin Grammy), with twenty-two nominations, one CableACE Award and received six Academy Award and four Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2016, it was announced that his Mission: Impossible theme was to be inducted into the Grammy Award Hall of Fame. In 2018, Clint Eastwood presented him with an Academy Honorary Award "in recognition of his unique musical style, compositional integrity and influential contributions to the art of film scoring."<ref name="Burlingame" />

Year Association Category Project Result Ref.
1967 Academy Awards Best Original Score Cool Hand Luke Template:Nominated <ref name="40AA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

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1968 The Fox Template:Nominated <ref name="41AA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1976 Voyage of the Damned Template:Nominated <ref name="49AA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1979 The Amityville Horror Template:Nominated <ref name="52AA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1980 Best Original Song "People Alone" Template:Small Template:Nominated <ref name="53AA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1983 Best Original Score The Sting II Template:Nominated <ref name="56AA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

2018 Academy Honorary Award Template:Won <ref name="91AA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1976 Golden Globe Awards Best Original Score Voyage of the Damned Template:Nominated <ref name="globes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1979 The Amityville Horror Template:Nominated <ref name="globes" />
1980 The Competition Template:Nominated <ref name="globes" />
1966 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition The Making of a President: 1964 Template:Nominated <ref name="18EA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1967 Mission: Impossible Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1968 Mission: Impossible Template:Small Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1969 Mission: Impossible Template:Small Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

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1962 Grammy Awards Best Original Jazz Composition Gillespiana Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1963 Tunisian Fantasy Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

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1965 "The Cat" Template:Small Template:Won <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

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1966 Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts Template:Won <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Template:Nominated
1967 Best Original Jazz Composition Marquis De Sade Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1968 Best Instrumental Performance Theme from Mission: Impossible Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Best Instrumental Composition Template:Won
Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media Mission: Impossible Template:Won
1969 Best Theme Composition Theme from The Fox Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media The Fox Template:Nominated
1971 Best Instrumental Composition Theme from Medical Center Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Best Instrumental Arrangement Template:Nominated
1994 Dizzy Gillespie Fireworks Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1997 Charlie Parker: The Firebird (Medley) Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Best Pop Instrumental Performance Theme from Mission: Impossible Template:Nominated
1999 Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media Rush Hour Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

2000 Best Instrumental Arrangement Fiesta Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

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2002 Scheherazade Fantasy Template:Nominated <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

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2000 Latin Grammy Award Best Latin Jazz Album Latin Jazz Suite Template:Nominated citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

2006 Best Tango Album Letters from Argentina Template:Nominated <ref name="www.latingrammy.com" />
2010 Best Classical Contemporary Composition Pampas Template:Won <ref name="www.latingrammy.com" />
2011 Romerías Template:Nominated <ref name="www.latingrammy.com" />

References

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