Composer Lalo Schifrin’s Oscar is an ‘amazing honor’

Last Sunday a great deal of us felt a huge sense of pride. It was at the 10^th annual Governors Awards where composer Lalo Schifrin was awarded a prestigious honorary Oscar statuette. It’s something that has been far too long in coming, so it was good to see this finally put right.

The Argentinian composer has written more than 100 scores for both film and television, including Dirty Harry, Bullitt, Cool Hand Luke, and arguably his most famous and recognisable composition - the theme for Mission: Impossible.

In over 50 years of work, he has amounted six Academy Award nominations - five for original score (Cool Hand Luke, The Fox, 'Voyage of the Damned, The Amityville Horror, and The Sting II) and one for original song - but has gone home empty handed on every occasion.

Schifrin appeared to be enjoying the event looking happy and well. He called the honor "amazing" and thanked the members of the film academy for their "generosity." Actress Kathy Bates provided a heartfelt speech honouring Lalo and Clint presented the composer with the gold statuette. In fact, it was a wonderful 5 mins of conversation on stage as the two legends reminisced and joked together like the two old friends that they are.

"Every movie has its own personality. There are no rules to write music for movies," Schifrin said. "The movie dictates what the music will be." One prime example is Dirty Harry, where Schifrin decided that the main character wasn't in fact Clint Eastwood's hero Harry Callahan, but the villain, Scorpio. "You would think the composer would pay more attention to the hero. But in this case, no I did it to Scorpio, the bad guy, the evil guy," he said. "I wrote a theme for Scorpio."

But it has been the Mission: Impossible theme that has continued to remain his most popular and recognisable, as the Tom Cruise film series continues introducing new generations to the music. "To me it was a surprise that the theme became so popular with people," Schifrin said. It was the producer at the time who instructed him that he wanted something simple, something compact, and something that people can hear from the kitchen and know exactly which show is starting. "I went to write something simple and over time it became so popular and I'm so happy about it."

I’ve had the great pleasure of interviewing Lalo at length and over the years enjoyed working alongside his family at Aleph Records. On a personal level, I have always found Lalo to be warm, generous and incredibly accommodating. I can’t think of anyone who deserves this recognition more – the most worthy of recipients. 

On behalf of all of your fans, I would like to offer our sincerest and warmest congratulations. 

God bless you Maestro.