Jerrald King "Jerry" Goldsmith (February 10, 1929 – July 21, 2004) was a famous and prolific American film and television composer from Los Angeles, California. Goldsmith was nominated for eighteen Academy Awards (winning one, for The Omen (1976)) and five Emmy Awards.
Goldsmith learned to play the piano with Jakob Gimpel at age six (he would later employ Gimpel to play piano in his soundtracks for Planet of the Apes (1968) and The Mephisto Waltz). At fourteen, he studied composition, theory and counterpoint with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (whose other prestigious students included Nelson Riddle, André Previn, Henry Mancini, and John Williams). Goldsmith attended the University of Southern California, where he developed an interest in writing film scores while studying under the legendary composer Miklos Rozsa.
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 Polański (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 (1968), 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 (L.A. Confidential), action movies (First Blood), erotic thrillers (Basic Instinct), sports pictures (Rudy), westerns (Bad Girls), comic book adaptations (Supergirl), and science fiction (the original Total Recall (1990) and five 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 (1976). He also was awarded with Emmys for The Red Pony, the Holocaust drama QB VII, the Babe Didrikson Zaharias biopic Babe (fun fact: Goldsmith was later attached to score the better-known movie of the same name, but it didn't happen) and the epic Masada, as well as the theme from Star Trek: Voyager.
Due to his wide grasp of different musical techniques, Goldsmith's scores were never as quickly identifiable as those of composers with narrower abilities. Goldsmith was a lover of innovation and adaptation, and the use of strange instruments. He utilized the newly invented Blaster Beam in Star Trek: The Motion Picture to produce the unique sound for V’Ger. 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."
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.
In addition to his countless television and film works, Goldsmith composed the Universal Studios Logo
Theme that's been in use since The Lost World: Jurassic Park (and rather than be replaced for its 100th anniversary was rearranged by Brian Tyler), along with the themes that went with the Carolco, Cinergi, C2 Pictures and Phoenix Pictures logos (the Carolco and Cinergi logo themes can be heard on the expanded soundtrack albums for Extreme Prejudice and Tombstone respectively). He was did this particular Paramount Television logo. He also wrote music for Disney World and Disneyland rides.
Goldsmith died on July 21, 2004 - shortly before the death of another legendary composer, Elmer Bernsteinnote .
Check out his loaded page of awesome music.
Goldsmith's daughter, Ellen Goldsmith Edson, is a folk musician and educator who collaborated with her father on the music for The Wild Rovers and The Waltons.
Goldsmith wrote music for these TV Shows and TV movies, among others:
- Amazing Stories ("Boo!")
- Anna And The King (theme, the pilot and two episodes)
- Barnaby Jones (theme and "Requiem For A Son")
- Black Saddle - theme only; uncredited because he was still under contract to CBS at the time - the series was made by Four Star Television.
- Dr. Kildare (theme and five episode scores)
- Gunsmoke (six episodes)
- Have Gun – Will Travel ("The Fatalist" and "A Head of Hair")
- Jericho (1966) (theme and the episode "Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread - and POW")
- The Loner (theme and the episodes "An Echo of Bugles" and "One of the Wounded")
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (theme, the pilot and two other episodesnote ) and Goldsmith's theme was adapted for The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. by Dave Grusin - Goldsmith didn't write any original music for the spinoff.
- Masada (the first two parts - he wanted to score the entire miniseries but production delays and a commitment to Inchon meant his friend Morton Stevens scored the other two; Goldsmith won an Emmy for part 2)
- Perry Mason ("The Case Of The Blushing Pearls")
- Playhouse 90 (fourteen episodes)
- Police Story (1973) (theme and "Slow Boy")
- QB VII (Emmy winner)
- Rawhide ("Incident in the Middle of Nowhere")
- The Red Pony (his first Emmy-winner)
- Room 222 (theme, "Richie's Story" and the episode "The Flu")
- Star Trek: Voyager (theme only; Emmy winner)
- Thriller (sixteen episodes)
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- The Twilight Zone (1959) (seven episodes)
- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ("Jonah And The Whale" - Goldsmith also composed a new series theme which is heard only on this episode)
- Wagon Train ("The Ah Chong Story" and "The Wagon Train Mutiny")
- The Waltons (theme, the previous TV movie and six episode scores)
- A Girl Named Sooner
Films Include:
- The 13th Warrior (replacing a score by Graeme Revell)
- Air Force One (after being called in last-minute to replace Randy Newman's too-goofy score, Goldsmith had to compose this entire score in just twelve days - Joel McNeely stepped in to help out, doing scenes like the dogfight climax)
- The Agony and the Ecstasy (the prologue only; actual movie scored by Alex North)
- Alien
- Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend
- Bad Girls
- The Ballad of Cable Hogue
- Basic Instinct (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.)
- Black Patch (his first film score)
- The Boys from Brazil
- The 'Burbs
- Capricorn One
- The Cassandra Crossing
- The Challenge
- Chain Reaction
- Chinatown
- Coma
- Congo
- Damnation Alley
- Deep Rising
- Dennis the Menace
- Executive Decision
- Explorers
- Extreme Prejudice
- The Edge
- Fierce Creatures
- First Knight (when Maurice Jarre dropped out)
- Flaming Star "additional music", i.e. the cue "Pacer's Farewell". The only time two Kings of music came together.
- The Ghost and the Darkness
- The Great Train Robbery
- Gremlins and its sequel:(both of which he has a cameo in)
- The Haunting (1999)
- Hoosiers
- Hollow Man
- Inchon
- Islands in the Stream (acknowledged by Goldsmith as his own personal favorite)
- Innerspace
- King Solomon's Mines
- L.A. Confidential
- The Last Castle
- The Last Hard Men (actually "scored" with a Recycled Soundtrack of previous Goldsmith Western scores for Fox. This replaced a score by Leonard Rosenman)
- Legend (1985) (European release)
- Leviathan (1989)
- Lilies of the Field
- Link
- Lionheart
- Logan's Run
- Lonely Are the Brave
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action - his final film that he scored (completed by John Debney).
- Love Field
- MacArthur
- Magic
- Malice
- Matinee
- Medicine Man
- Mom and Dad Save the World
- Morituri
- Mulan
- The Mummy (1999)
- Night Crossing
- The Omen (1976) and the sequels (the first film won him his only Oscar):
- Our Man Flint and its sequel In Like Flint
- Outland one cue reworked by Morton Stevens.
- Papillon
- A Patch of Blue
- Patton
- Planet of the Apes (1968) (and Escape from the Planet of the Apes)
- Poltergeist and the first sequel:
- Powder
- Psycho II
- The first three Rambo movies:
- Rio Lobo
- The River Wild (Replacing a rejected score by Maurice Jarre)
- Rudy
- Runaway
- The Russia House
- The Sand Pebbles
- The Satan Bug
- Seconds (1966)
- The Secret of NIMH
- Seven Days in May
- The Shadow
- Small Soldiers
- Soarin' Over California/Soarin', which is an OMNIMAX film shown in an attraction of the same name(s).
- Sleeping with the Enemy
- Stagecoach
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture - The theme he composed for this movie was reused for Star Trek: The Next Generation, and has become the musical theme most strongly associated with the franchise, besides Alexander Courage's fanfare.
- The Sum of All Fears
- Supergirl (1984)
- The Swarm (1978)
- Tora! Tora! Tora!
- Total Recall (1990)
- Twilight Zone: The Movie
- U.S. Marshals
- The Vanishing
- Von Ryan's Express
- Warlock (1989)
- The Wind and the Lion
Fans and other interested parties are directed to the podcast The Goldsmith Odyssey.
Tropes associated with his works include:
- African Chant: Used one in Congo and The Ghost and The Darkness.
- Associated Composer: To Sean Connery, Michael Crichton, TV producer Norman Felton and others, but most notably to Franklin Schaffner and Joe Dante.
- Bootstrapped Theme: Nowadays, even those who don't appreciate Star Trek, his music is the most recognizable piece of work second only to Alexander Courage's fanfare from The Original Series.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He wore a gorilla mask while composing Planet of the Apes. Its one of his best scores which is saying a lot.
- Climactic Music: Rudy
-
Doing It for the Art: Goldsmith developed a reputation as being willing to compose any genre of film regardless of pay, but this was simply because he always wanted to experiment with every score he worked on. - Everything Is an Instrument: Goldsmith was well-known for making use of unconventional instruments in his scores, with Planet of the Apes a classic example. For a time there's a long standing joke among Goldsmith's colleagues that goes something like this: "Find out what's making that noise outside, bring it here, and maybe Goldsmith can use it for his music!"
- Evolving Music: The "Ave Satani" changed from creepy chanting in the first two The Omen films, to being full blown operatic in the third.
- Fanfare: Goldsmith can write for brass like no other.
- Hell Is That Noise: A Jerry Goldsmith specialty.
- Ironic Nursery Tune: Poltergeist and its sequel.
- It's Been Done: Yeah, you think this music is totally original? Goldsmith already composed that one!!! Might also count as Older Than They Think (albeit not that old) and Suspiciously Similar Score.
- Leitmotif
- Lonely Piano Piece: A Patch of Blue.
- Musical Nod: A snippet of the "Superman March" can be heard in Supergirl.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: Ave Satani.
- Ominous Music Box Tune: Poltergeist.
- Ominous Pipe Organ: The Burbs.
- One-Woman Wail: The Sum Of All Fears.
- Orchestral Version: Of the folk song "The Water Is Wide" in the film, The River Wild.
- Rated M for Manly: Most action movies composed by him, especially the Rambo movies and Total Recall (1990).
- Recurring Riff: Goldsmith's own version of Star Trek fanfare is used throughout the five films he scored. (And was adapted as The Next Generation's theme when it was adapted for the TV series).
- Regional Riff: Goldsmith was a studious researcher whenever he's called to do music for some exotic locales.
- Shown Their Work: And it clearly shows.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Goldsmith was rather fond of this, especially in his horror and science fiction scores. Those hauntingly beautiful music in Poltergeist, Alien, Gremlins, The Haunting, Twilight Zone: The Movie, etc.
