'Mission: Impossible' theme song composer, Lalo Schifrin, dies at 93

article

FILE - Lalo Schifrin attends 34th Annual BMI Film, TV & Visual Media Awards attends at Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on May 9, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for BMI)

Lalo Schifrin, the composer who wrote the widely catchy theme song for "Mission: Impossible," as well as many other songs, has died.

He was 93 years old.

Schifrin’s sons William and Ryan confirmed his death on Thursday.

In addition to his sons, he’s survived by his daughter, Frances, and wife, Donna.

Earworm for the ages

Schifrin, also a jazz pianist and classical conductor, had a remarkable career in music that included working with Dizzy Gillespie and recording with Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan. But perhaps his biggest contribution was the instantly recognizable score to television’s "Mission: Impossible," which fueled the just-wrapped, decades-spanning feature film franchise led by Tom Cruise.

Dig deeper:

Written in the unusual 5/4 time signature, the theme — Dum-dum DUM DUM dum-dum DUM DUM — was married to an on-screen self-destruct clock that kicked off the TV show, which ran from 1966 to 1973.

It was described as "only the most contagious tune ever heard by mortal ears" by New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane and even hit No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968.

Schifrin originally wrote a different piece of music for the theme song but series creator Bruce Geller liked another arrangement Schifrin had composed for an action sequence.

"Mission: Impossible" won Grammys for best instrumental theme and best original score from a motion picture or a TV show. In 2017, the theme was entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

A talented composer

The backstory:

Among Schifrin’s conducting credits include the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Mexico Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

He was appointed music director of Southern California’s Glendale Symphony Orchestra and served in that capacity from 1989-1995. Schifrin also wrote and adapted the music for "Christmas in Vienna" in 1992, a concert featuring Diana Ross, Carreras and Domingo.

He also combined tango, folk and classical genres when he recorded "Letters from Argentina," nominated for a Latin Grammy for best tango album in 2006.

Schifrin was also commissioned to write the overture for the 1987 Pan American Games, wrote the grand finale musical performance for the World Cup championship in Italy in 1990, and composed and conducted the event’s 1995 final performance in Argentina.

The Argentine won four Grammys and was nominated for six Oscars, including five for original score for "Cool Hand Luke," "The Fox," "Voyage of the Damned," "The Amityville Horror" and "The Sting II."

In 2018, he was given an honorary Oscar statuette and, in 2017, the Latin Recording Academy bestowed on him one of its special trustee awards.