MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine music legend Lalo Schifrin dies aged 93

Schifrin was best known for his Mission: Impossible score, but authored dozens of other hits

Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin, who authored the iconic Mission: Impossible theme and other film and TV scores, including Dirty Harry, Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt, Voyage of the Damned, The Amityville Horror, The Sting II, and Mannix, died Thursday from pneumonia complications in Los Angeles, aged 93.

His innovative fusion of jazz and symphonic music earned him four Grammys, six Oscar nominations, and an honorary Oscar in 2018. Schifrin also worked with legends like Dizzy Gillespie and Clint Eastwood.

A jazz pianist and classical conductor, he also wrote the grand finale musical performance for the 1990 football World Cup championship in Italy, in which the Three Tenors – Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and José Carreras – sang together for the first time. The work became one of the biggest sellers in the history of classical music.

His Mission: Impossible theme, written in 5/4 time, became a cultural staple and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. He leaves a lasting legacy in film, television, and classical music.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1932, Schifrin studied at the National Conservatory of Music and later at the Paris Conservatory, where he forged his classical academic training.

In 2018, the Hollywood Academy awarded him an honorary Oscar in recognition of his career, after six previous unsuccessful nominations. He also received Grammy Awards and was a multiple Golden Globe and Emmy nominee. “Every movie has its own personality. There are no rules to write music for movies,” he told the Associated Press back then. “The movie dictates what the music will be.”

A known football fan of Buenos Aires' Huracán, his 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 between 1989 and 1995.

He is survived by two sons, William and Ryan, his daughter, Frances, and his wife, Donna.