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Jerry Goldsmith
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Jerrald King "Jerry" Goldsmith (February 10, 1929 – July 21, 2004) was an American film score composer from Los Angeles, California. Goldsmith was nominated for eighteen Academy Awards (winning one, for The Omen), and also won four Emmy Awards. He worked in a wide variety of film and television genres, but is most prominently associated with action, suspense, and sci-fi/horror films.
smith was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Tessa (née Rappaport), an artist, and Morris Goldsmith, a structural engineer.
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Quotations
The fact that certain composers have been able to create first-class music within the medium of film proves that film music can be as good as the composer is gifted.
ibid., p. 209
Encyclopedia
Jerrald King "Jerry" Goldsmith (February 10, 1929 – July 21, 2004) was an American film score composer from Los Angeles, California. Goldsmith was nominated for eighteen Academy Awards (winning one, for The Omen), and also won four Emmy Awards. He worked in a wide variety of film and television genres, but is most prominently associated with action, suspense, and sci-fi/horror films.
Biography
Childhood and education
Goldsmith was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Tessa (née Rappaport), an artist, and Morris Goldsmith, a structural engineer. He 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, where he attended courses taught by veteran composer Miklós Rózsa. Goldsmith developed an interest in writing scores for movies after being inspired by Rózsa.
1950s and 1960s
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 20th Century-Fox. Goldsmith went on to collaborate with many big-name 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 and Legend). But his most notable collaboration was arguably that with Franklin Schaffner (for whom Goldsmith scored Planet of the Apes, Patton and Papillon).
Many different genres for which Goldsmith composed scores
Goldsmith provided tailor-made scores for many different genres; including war films (The Blue Max), film noir (Chinatown), action movies (Rambo: First Blood and the first two sequels), erotic thrillers (Basic Instinct), sports pictures (Rudy), family comedies (The Trouble with Angels), westerns (Breakheart Pass), comic book adaptations (Supergirl), animated features (The Secret of NIMH), and science fiction (Total Recall, Alien and five Star Trek films). His ability to write 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 for Star Trek: Voyager.
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).
As a lover of innovation and adaptation
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 16th century 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. During the 80s, with the development of more sophisticated synthesizers and technology such as MIDI, Goldsmith started to abandon acoustical solutions to create unusual timbres, and relied more and more on digital instruments. He continued to champion the use of orchestras however (to which, for him, electronics were merely an adjunct). He also remained a studious researcher of ethnic music, and utilized South American Zampońas in Under Fire, native tribal chants in Congo, and interwove a traditional Irish folk melody with African rhythms in The Ghost and the Darkness. His concept for creation and innovation delighted his fans -- and often intimidated his peers. Henry Mancini, another film-music composer, once admitted that Goldsmith "scares the hell out of us."
Goldsmith's London connection
Although born and raised in Los Angeles, Goldsmith had much 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.
Final scores
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 his death.
Notable scores
A list of his most distinguished film scores, most of which were Oscar nominated and all of which exhibit his dramatic instinct, 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, First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III, Total Recall, Medicine Man, Basic Instinct, Hoosiers, 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.
One of Goldsmith's least-heard 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).
Many of Goldsmith's scores from the 1980s and 1990s (such as the aforementioned Legend and the J. Lee Thompson remake of King Solomon's Mines) were performed with the Hungarian State Opera and National Philharmonic Orchestras.
It is said that the prologue to the 1965 movie The Agony and The Ecstasy, written in the days when he was lesser-known, remained up until the very end of his career one of Jerry Goldsmith's personal favourites.
List of movies and series (chronological)
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
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 initially wanted Goldsmith to score Star Treks pilot episode, "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 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). The core of the main theme bears some resemblance to that of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., scored by Goldsmith in 1964.
Yet there are many other facets to this score. The opening sequence features a theme for the Klingons, a clarion call introduced by woodwinds, accompanied by angklungs (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; Goldsmith, owing to the unusual instrumental blends, preferred to monitor the balance in the recording booth.
Awards nominations
Academy Awards
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-Chinatown1975-The Wind and the Lion1976-The Omen (won); also, "Ave Satani" (Original Song) from The Omen [music and lyrics by Jerry Goldsmith]1978-The Boys from Brazil1979-Star Trek: The Motion Picture1982-Poltergeist1983-Under Fire1986-Hoosiers1992-Basic Instinct1997-L.A. Confidential (Original Dramatic Score)1998-Mulan (Original Musical or Comedy Score)
Golden Globes
Seven Days in May1967-The Sand Pebbles1975-Chinatown1980-Star Trek:The Motion Picture1980-Alien1984-Under Fire1993-Basic Instinct1998-L.A. Confidential1999-Mulan
Grammy Awards
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.1975-QB VII1976-The Wind and the Lion1977-The Omen1980-Alien
Miscellaneous
Islands in the Stream remained his personal favourite. Goldsmith's daughter, Carrie Goldsmith, went to high school with famed Titanic composer James Horner, who also composed music for Star Trek's second and third movies: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. On the Planet of the Apes DVD 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. 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 colon 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. Throughout the '90s, he sported long hair that he pulled back into a neat ponytail. This became his signature look. In concert, Goldsmith often would recount a story of how Sean Connery copied Goldsmith's hairstyle for the 1992 film Medicine Man. In the film's closing credits, Goldsmith is listed as "hair designer." He cut his hair in 2002, after more than a decade with the ponytail.
Further reading
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
External links
- at Soundtrackguide.net
- at Filmtracks.com
- at scorereviews.com
- at
- at SoundtrackCollector.com
- at
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