Jerry Goldsmith

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Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in 2003.
Born February 10, 1929
Died July 21, 2004
Beverly Hills, California, USA

Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929 – July 21, 2004) was a famous American film score composer from Los Angeles, California. Goldsmith was nominated for eighteen Academy Awards (winning one, for The Omen), and also won five Emmy Awards.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Goldsmith learned to play the piano at age six. At fourteen, he studied composition, theory and counterpoint with teachers Jacob Gimpel and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Goldsmith attended the University of Southern California, with teacher Miklós Rózsa, who had written the score for the Ingrid Bergman movie Spellbound. Goldsmith developed an interest in writing scores for movies after being inspired by Rózsa.

[edit] Musical scores

In 1950, Goldsmith found work at CBS as a clerk in the network's music department. He soon began writing scores for radio (including CBS Radio Workshop; Frontier Gentleman, for which he wrote the title music; and Romance) and CBS television shows (including The Twilight Zone). He remained at CBS until 1960, after which he moved on to Revue Studios, where he would compose music for television shows such as Dr. Kildare and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

In 1963, Goldsmith was first nominated for an Oscar for John Huston's film Freud. Shortly after, he met Alfred Newman, who was instrumental in Goldsmith's hiring by Universal Studios. Goldsmith went on to collaborate with many great filmmakers throughout his career, including Robert Wise (The Sand Pebbles, Star Trek: The Motion Picture), Howard Hawks (Rio Lobo), Otto Preminger (In Harm's Way), Roman Polanski (Chinatown), Steven Spielberg/Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist), and Ridley Scott (Alien). But his most fruitful collaboration was arguably that with Franklin Schaffner (for whom Goldsmith scored Planet of the Apes, Patton and Papillon).

Goldsmith was perhaps the most eclectic composer in cinema, providing tailor-made scores for many different genres; including war films (The Blue Max), film noir (LA Confidential), action movies (First Blood), erotic thrillers (Basic Instinct), sports pictures (Hoosiers), westerns (Breakheart Pass), comic book adaptations (Supergirl), and science fiction (Total Recall and many Star Trek films). His ability to write visceral, terrifying music won him his only Academy Award for his violent choral/orchestral score for The Omen. He also was awarded with Emmys for television scores like the Holocaust drama QB VII, and the epic Masada, as well as the theme from Star Trek: Voyager.

Goldsmith was also the composer of the Carolco Pictures logo and the late-1990s Universal Studios logo.

Due to his wide grasp of different musical techniques, Goldsmith's scores were never as quickly identifiable as those of composers with narrower abilities. While his work could be as light-hearted as the main title of Dennis the Menace, it also included QB VII's "Kaddish for the Six Million", a choral work honoring the victims of the Holocaust.

Goldsmith was a lover of innovation and adaptation, and the use of strange instruments. His score for Alien for example featured an orchestra augmented by shofar, steel drum and serpent (a Medieval instrument), while creating further "alien" sounds by filtering string pizzicati through an echoplex. Many of the instruments in Alien were used in such atypical ways they were virtually unidentifiable. Goldsmith was also a studious researcher of ethnic music, and found uses for South American Zampoñas in Under Fire, native tribal chants in Congo, and brilliantly interwove a traditional Irish folk melody with African rhythms in The Ghost and the Darkness. His genius for creation and innovation delighted his fans -- and often intimidated his peers. Henry Mancini, another great film music composer, once admitted that Goldsmith "scares the hell out of us."

Goldsmith also composed for The Waltons TV series (including its famous theme), a fanfare for the Academy Awards presentation show and the score for one of the Disneyland Resort's most popular attractions, Soarin' Over California. Goldsmith never cared for the term "film composer", as he also wrote a fair amount of "absolute" music for the concert hall as well (such as "Music For Orchestra", which was premiered by Leonard Slatkin and the Minnesota Orchestra in 1970).

One of Goldsmith's least-heard (and what some movie fans call his greatest) scores was for the 1985 Ridley Scott film Legend. Director Scott had commissioned Goldsmith to write an orchestral score for the movie, but was initially heard only in European theatres, and replaced with electronic music and pop songs for the American release due to studio politics (it has since been restored for DVD release).

Over time Goldsmith's interest in unusual instruments seemed to wane, and he relied more and more on synthesisers in searching for new timbres. While his electronic work was unquestionably inventive, many—colleagues and fans alike—began to feel he was becoming a little too synthesised. Some of his 80s work sounds a little dated today, owing to synth timbres (particularly on the Yamaha DX7) which were common to the era. That said, Goldsmith also got also some extraordinary sounds out of the DX7 and other digital keyboards of the 80s, many of which remain quite arresting 20 years on.

Although born and raised in Los Angeles, Goldsmith had tremendous affection for the city of London, where he recorded many of his scores, and even maintained a home for a time. He also conducted many concerts of his music in London, and once said during an interview on BBC Radio that he felt the British musicians were the best in the world.[citation needed]

Goldsmith's final theatrical score was for the 2003 live action/animated film Looney Tunes: Back in Action. His score for the Richard Donner film Timeline the same year was rejected during the complicated post-production process; however, Goldsmith's score has since been released on CD, not long after the composer's death.

A list of his most distinguished film scores, most of which were Oscar nominated and all of which exhibit his unerring dramatic instinct, might by general consensus include Freud, A Patch of Blue, The Blue Max, The Sand Pebbles, Planet of the Apes, Patton, Papillon, Chinatown, The Wind and the Lion, The Omen, Logan's Run, Islands in the Stream (acknowledged by Goldsmith as his own personal favorite), The Boys from Brazil, Capricorn One, Alien, The First Great Train Robbery, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Lionheart, The Russia House, Total Recall, Medicine Man, Basic Instinct, Rudy, The Edge, The 13th Warrior and The Mummy. Goldsmith's Oscar-nominated score for Under Fire (1983) prominently featured solo guitar work by Pat Metheny. Of all the scores he wrote, Goldsmith has said that Basic Instinct was the hardest and most complex, according to a mini-documentary on the special edition DVD.

[edit] List of movies and series (Chronological)

[edit] Star Trek

Goldsmith is often remembered for composing the scores for five Star Trek films — Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek: First Contact (with son Joel), Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis — and the title theme for the Star Trek: Voyager television series. The theme from Star Trek: The Next Generation was adapted from the main title of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Gene Roddenberry actually wanted Goldsmith to score Star Trek's original pilot "The Cage" but the composer was unavailable.

The score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture is regarded by many as the composer's most impressive. Goldsmith was charged with depicting a universe with his music, and so it is extremely expansive. But Goldsmith's initial main theme was not well-received by the filmmakers (director Robert Wise felt "It sounds like sailing ships"). Although somewhat irked by its rejection, Goldsmith, a consummate professional, consented to re-work his initial idea and finally arrived at the soaring, majestic theme which was ultimately used (and which remains instantly recognizable today).

Yet there are many other facets to this score. The opening sequence features a memorable theme for the Klingons, a clarion call introduced by woodwinds, accompanied by ankglungs (bamboo rattles from Indonesia). Goldsmith would reprise this Klingon theme in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and for Worf in the subsequent scores. The love theme for Ilia was used for the overture (this and The Walt Disney Company's The Black Hole were the last two feature films to have an overture). Goldsmith also came up with a signature sound for V'Ger by using Craig Huxley's "Blaster Beam" (a long, narrow metal box, equipped with low, electronically amplified piano strings, which the player strikes with an artillery shell casing and mallet). Goldsmith also utilized a large pipe organ, which required the score be recorded at 20th Century Fox (which had the only scoring stage in Los Angeles equipped with such an organ).

Alexander Courage, who composed the theme for the original Star Trek television series, was a friend of Goldsmith's, and served as his orchestrator on several scores. Courage also provided a new arrangement of his theme from the original series for use in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Another of the original series' composers, Fred Steiner, provided a few minor cues based on Goldsmith's original material (as deadlines prevented Goldsmith from completing every last scene). A considerable portion of the score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture was conducted by an uncredited Lionel Newman (as Goldsmith, owing to the unusual instrumental blends, preferred to monitor the balance in the recording booth).

[edit] Awards Nominations

[edit] Academy Awards[1]

  • 1962-Freud (Music Score--substantially original)
  • 1965-A Patch of Blue (Music Score--substantially original)
  • 1966-The Sand Pebbles (Original Music Score)
  • 1968-Planet of the Apes (Original Score--for a motion picture [not a musical])
  • 1970-Patton (Original Dramatic Score)
  • 1973-Papillon (Original Dramatic Score)
  • 1974-Chinatown
  • 1975-The Wind and the Lion
  • 1976-The Omen (won); also, "Ave Satani" (Original Song) from The Omen [music and lyrics by Jerry Goldsmith]
  • 1978-The Boys from Brazil
  • 1979-Star Trek: The Motion Picture
  • 1982-Poltergeist
  • 1983-Under Fire
  • 1986-Hoosiers
  • 1992-Basic Instinct
  • 1997-L.A. Confidential (Original Dramatic Score)
  • 1998-Mulan (Original Musical or Comedy Score)

[edit] Golden Globes

[edit] Grammy Awards

[edit] Trivia

  • Goldsmith's daughter, Carrie Goldsmith, once dated famed Titanic composer James Horner.
  • (On the Planet of the Apes commentary track, he explains why he didn't score the final scene) "Charlton Heston was a bit over the top by himself, and didn't need any score to accompany him.
  • He considered Total Recall (1990) one of his best scores.
  • With help from fellow composer Joel McNeely, he composed and recorded the score to Air Force One in just three weeks. (Goldsmith later said he would never again take on a replacement score with such little time available.)
  • In 1997, he composed a new theme for the Universal Studios opening logo.

[edit] Personal

  • Goldsmith lived with his wife, former teacher and singer Carol Heather Goldsmith, in Beverly Hills. She composed lyrics for, and sang in the additional track "The Piper Dreams" for the soundtrack of The Omen, as well as a song from the film Caboblanco.
  • He died after a long struggle with cancer, ending a long and memorable career in film scoring.
  • His oldest son, Joel Goldsmith, is also a composer and collaborated with his father on the soundtrack for Star Trek: First Contact.
  • His daughter, Carrie Goldsmith, is currently working on a biography of her father, the first chapter of which can be read on her younger brother's website.[1]

[edit] Literature

  • Thomas, Tony: Music For The Movies (1973)
  • Thomas, Tony: Film Score (1979)
  • Brown, Royal S.: Overtones And Undertones (1994)
  • Büdinger, Matthias: "A Patch Of Goldsmith". In: Soundtrack vol. 8, No. 69, p. 46-48

[edit] External links

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[edit] Notes

  1. ^ for Original Score except as noted
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