Jerry Goldsmith
was born on February 10th 1929 in Pasadena California and grew up in Los
Angeles. Originally intending to become a concert hall composer, he soon
realised that the infrequency of concert hall commissions would never satisfy
his hunger to write music. Jerry Goldsmith began studying piano at the age of 6
and by the age of 14 was studying composition, theory and counterpoint with
Jacob Gimpel and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He also became acquainted with
legendary composer Miklos Rosza and attended his classes in film composition, at
the University of Southern California. It was Rosza's own score to Spellbound
and the film's star Ingrid Bergman, that had captivated Goldsmith back in 1945
and clearly influenced the composer's interest in music for film.
In
1950 Goldsmith was employed as a clerk typist in the music department at CBS.
There he was given his first assignments as a composer for live radio shows such
as Romance and CBS Radio Workshop and progressing on to live TV shows such as
Climax and Playhouse 90. He stayed with CBS until 1960, having already scored
the cult sci-fi show The Twilight Zone. Then was hired by Revue Studios to score
their Thriller series, which lead on to further TV commissions including the
famous Dr Kildare theme and theme and episodes for The Man From U.N.C.L.E..
In
1962 Goldsmith was awarded his first Oscar nomination for his acclaimed score to
the poorly received John Huston biopic of Freud. At the same time, he met and
became acquainted with the influential film composer Alfred Newman. Newman,
recognising Goldsmith's talents, influenced Universal into hiring him to score
the film Lonely Are The Brave in 1963. From there Goldsmith established himself
as a contract composer for 20th Century Fox, quickly re-defining the modern film
score. Along with his close friend Alex North, Goldsmith established himself as
a leading name in American film music, and by the beginning of the 1970's the
composer had already written a number of landmarks scores that cemented his
position and his reputation. These included A Patch Of Blue, Lilies Of The
Field, The Sand Pebbles, The Planet Of The Apes, The Blue Max and Patton.
During
the 70's Goldsmith augmented his movie scoring with a plethora of TV assignments
and remains one of the few composers to juggle film and TV scoring successfully.
This included the critically acclaimed and Emmy Winning score to the first TV
epic QBVII as well as the popular theme for the TV series The Waltons. Hungry to
work, the early part of the decade proved to be one of the composer's most
successful periods with a combination of gritty thrillers and prestigious
assignments like The Wind And The Lion, Chinatown, The Wild Rovers and Papillon.
The late 70's brought Goldsmith his lone Oscar for the avant-garde and ground
breaking score to The Omen. Never had a film score been so critical to the
movie's atmosphere and dramatic power. The decade finished with series of the
composer's most popular crowd pleasing scores from the militaria of The Swarm
via grand caper scoring of The Great Train Robbery, to the terrifying Alien and
of course what is generally regarded as Goldsmith's greatest work - Star Trek
The Motion Picture. Here Goldsmith was tasked with re-inventing a franchise and
creating a brand new theme. Goldsmith remarked that the theme was the toughest
he ever wrote and remains a remarkable achievement. At the behest of Star
Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, it later became the signature theme for the
popular Star Trek spin off The Next Generation. In 1995 Goldsmith would go on to
write a new theme for a further spin off; Star Trek Voyager. Interestingly
Goldsmith association with Star Trek may have started even earlier. In interview
Goldsmith revealed he had been approached by Roddenberry back in the sixties to
write the original TV series theme, but due to scheduling was unable to do so.
The
80's began with the TV epic Masada in which the composer scored the first four
hours and the rousing main theme. Handing the remaining four hours to friend and
fellow composer Morton Stevens. Goldsmith's abilities at being a musical
chameleon served him well throughout his career and just as the decades before
brought dramatic changes in style the 80's also saw further development and
transformations. Notably with the robust and action packed First Blood and its
exciting sequel scores (Rambo First Blood Part II and the epic third score to
Rambo III in which the composer bids a fond farewell to the Rambo
character). Then came the animated splendour of The Secret Of Nimh as well as
critically acclaimed works to Under Fire, Poltergeist and the
orchestral/electronic triumph to the sporting drama Hoosiers. The mid 80's
proved to be a mix of comedy and adventure scoring for big budget fare that
included a series of assignments for Joe Dante, most notably the box office
smash Gremlins, to cult hits Supergirl, Twilight Zone The Movie and a rousing
sequel score to Star Trek V. This decade also saw further electronic development
that had begun back in the 60's with Freud. In 1985 the composer tackled his
first all electronic score to Michael Crichton's sci-fi thriller Runaway, and
later followed it up with courtroom thriller Criminal Law. Goldsmith finally
fused orchestra with electronics proper in the 90's and remains one of the few
silver age composers to spend so much time cultivating the technology without
betraying the traditional orchestral world.
In
the 90's Goldsmith started the decade with his action opus, Total Recall.
Goldsmith's mammoth score is nothing short of a symphony and remains the
defining moment in action scoring, and is now regarded as a classic of the
genre. He also became friends with the film's acclaimed director; Paul Verhoeven
and went on to collaborate on the difficult assignment, Basic Instinct. The
assignment remains a rare moment in the cut throat business of Hollywood where a
director showed total commitment to his composer and worked closely with him to
encourage Goldsmith to fashion one of his most memorable scores. The decade also
brought another of the composer's finest works, the beautiful score to The
Russia House for director Fred Schepisi, the critically acclaimed score to the
minor true life sporting drama Rudy along with further Star Trek sequels, action
epics such as Air Force One and The Mummy, as well as more challenging
assignments such as the big screen adaptation of Six Degrees Of Separation (Fred
Schepisi) and the critically acclaimed thriller LA Confidential (Curtis Hanson).
Jerry
Goldsmith began the new millennium with a further collaboration with Dutch
director Paul Verhoeven on the summer 2000 sci-fi thriller Hollow Man where
Goldsmith's genuine love and affection for the director shone through with an
enormous and extremely complex thriller score. The next two years featured The
Last Castle where Goldsmith's moving theme was adopted to remember the victims
of September 11th 2001. Followed by the box office hit and at times equally
moving score to The Sum Of All Fears. And a second outing with acclaimed
director Lee Tamahori for the Morgan Freeman thriller Along Came A Spider. By
this time the composer's health began to take its toll and prevent Goldsmith
from working as much as he once did but he finished his work on the Star Trek
franchise with Star Trek Nemesis, making this the third collaboration with
British director Stuart Baird. Goldsmith's final scores were for friends, in the
case of Timeline directed by The Omen's Richard Donner. Sadly a score that was
not used in the finished film due to dramatic changes in the final cut of the
movie. Donner tried to secure Goldsmith again to rewrite the score but the
composer was unable to do so. Fittingly for his final score he was with another
close friend; Joe Dante for the comedy Looney Tunes Back In Action. Jerry
Goldsmith passed away on July 21st 2004 peacefully in his sleep after a long and
gallant battle against cancer.
Discography:
100 Rifles
A Gathering Of Eagles (Unrelease)
Ace Eli And Roger Of The Skies (Unrelease)
Alien
Alien (Original & Rejected)
Alien Nation (Rejected & Unreleased)
Angie
Baby Secret Of The Lost Legend
Bandolero (Expanded)
Basic Instinct
Basic Instinct (Expanded) 2004
Black Patch (Unrelease)
Breakheart Pass (Unrelease)
Breakout
Caboblanco
Celebration Of Hollywood
City Of Fear (Unrelease)
Coma
Damnation Alley (Unrelease)
Escape From The Planet Of The Apes
Escape From The Planet Of The Apes & The Mephisto Waltz (Promo)
Executive Decision
Explorers (Expanded)
Extreme Prejudice (Expanded)
Face Of A Fugitive (Unrelease)
Fate Is The Hunter (Unrelease)
Gremlins (Expanded)
Gremlins (Bootleg)
High Velocity (Belgian Release)
Hour Of The Gun
I.Q. (Unrelease)
In Harm's Way (Japanese Release)
In Like Flint
Jerry Goldsmith At 20th Century Fox (6 CD´s)
Jerry Goldsmith Suites & Themes
Justine (The Deluxe Edition)
Legend (The Complete Score)
Leviathan
Lilies In The Field
Link
Lionheart
Logan's Run (Expanded)
Lonely Are The Brave
Looney Tunes Back In Action
Magic
Malice
Matinee
McArthur
Mom And Dad Save The World
Mr Baseball
Mulan (Academy Promo)
Mulan (Complete Score)
Night Crossing
Not Without My Doughter
One Little Indian (Unrelease)
Our Man Flint
Outland
Papillon
Patton
Planet Of The Apes
Planet Of The Apes (Also Featuring Music From Escape from the Planet of the Apes)
Players
Poltergeist
Poltergeist II The Other Side
Powder
Prejudice
Psycho II
Raggedy Man
Rambo II First Blood
Rambo II First Blood (Expanded)
Rent A Cop
Runaway
S.P.Y.S. (Unrelease)
Sebastian (Unrelease)
Seven Days In May (Unrelease)
Shamus (Unrelease)
Shock Treatment (Unrelease)
Six Degrees Of Separation
Sleeping With The Enemy
Small Soldiers
Small Soldiers (Recording Sessions)
Stagecoach
Star Trek First Contact (Complete)
Star Trek Insurrection
Star Trek Nemesis (Complete)
Star Trek The Final Frontier
Star Trek The Motion Picture 20th Anniversary
Studs Lonigan (Limited Release)
Take Her She's Mine (Unrelease)
The Agony And The Ecstasy
The Ballad Of Cable Hogue
The Blue Max
The Boys From Brazil
The Cassandra Crossing
The Chairman
The Challenge
The Detective (Unrelease)
The Don Is Dead (Unrelease)
The Final Comflict
The Flim-Flam Man
The Ghost And The Darkness
The Great Train Robbery
The Haunting
The Illustrate Man
The Last Castle
The Last Run
The List Of Adrian Messenger (Unrelease)
The List Of Adrian Messenger & The Challenge
The Lonely Guy (Unrelease)
The Man (Unrelease)
The Mephisto Waltz
The Omen II Damien
The Omen II - Damien (The Deluxe Edition)
The Omen III The Final Conflict
The Omen III - The Final Conflict (The Deluxe Edition)
The Other (Unrelease)
The Prize (Unrelease)
The Red Pony & Agony And The Ecstasy
The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud
The River Wild
The Satan Bug (Unrelease)
The Salamander (Unrelease)
The Secret Of N.I.M.H.
The Shadow
The Spiral Road (Limited release)
The Stripper
The Swarm
The Terrorist (Unrelease)
The Travelling Executioner
The Trouble With Angels
The Vanishing (Promo)
The Wind And The Lion
Timeline (Rejected) (Varese Edition)
Total Recall
Total Recall Deluxe Edition
Twilight's Last Gleaming
Under Fire
Von Ryan's Express
Warlock
Warning Shot (Unrelease)
Design & Developed By J. Díaz - Frogmen If any text, images or other material here are in some form of violation of copyright infringement please forward the author, Frogmen the valid proof and I will happily remove them as requested. Thanks.
|