A native of Los Angeles, Jerrald King (Jerry) Goldsmith wanted to compose music since he was twelve. He worked under Jacob Gimpel, and became a student of composition with Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco, as well as studying the writing of film music with Miklos Rosza at the University of Southern California. His credits are massive, covering some of the most recognized and acclaimed of films and their music, including Lonely Are The Brave, Freud, The List Of Adrian Messenger, Lillies Of The Field, The Prize, Seven Days In May, Rio Conchos, Von Ryan's Express, Patch Of Blue (Oscar nomination), Our Man Flint, Seconds, The Sand Pebbles (Oscar nomination), In Like Flint, Patton (Oscar nomination), The Ballad Of Cable Hogue, The Mephisto Waltz, and the first and third Apes films. Goldsmith had first worked extensively in television - providing scores for series like Climax, Playhouse 90, Studio One, Gunsmoke, Thriller, The Twilight Zone, Dr. Kildare, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and the TV feature The Brotherhood Of The Bell - before his mentor, composer Alfred Newman, who was head of the music department at Twentieth Century Fox, convinced him to join the studio.[1][2]
Goldsmith was justifiably proud of his acclaimed soundtrack score for Planet of the Apes, the second of seven films he wrote for director Franklin J. Schaffner.[3] He said of his close friend, "Franklin Schaffner is a very articulate director, and it's very easy to work with him. He's probably the only director who really understands music."[1] In composing the soundtrack, Goldsmith felt "it should not be an electronic score, not gimmicky, and [I] wanted to do it with a normal orchestra. I did not want to do the obvious on this... I was thrilled with it." "It was done with a great deal of love. In fact, the Austrian Ballet is using it in their production of 'Othello'."[1] (This should actually be the Australian Ballet Company, whose production of Othello opened 7 January 1971.[4]) Allegedly, Goldsmith wore a gorilla mask while writing and conducting the score to "better get in touch with the movie."[5]
Originally, the music for the second Apes movie, Beneath the Planet of the Apes was also to be composed by Goldsmith, but Planet of the Apes director Schaffner convinced the studio heads at Twentieth Century Fox to pull Goldsmith from the project in favor of having him score Schaffner's then current film project, Patton. Goldsmith was ultimately replaced with composer Leonard Rosenman.[6] After that break, Goldsmith returned to compose the soundtrack for the third installment Escape from the Planet of the Apes.
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 'Cinefantastique Planet of the Apes Issue' (1972)
- ↑ Planet of the Apes: 40 Year Evolution, by Lee Pfeiffer & Dave Worrall (June 2008)
- ↑ Jerry Goldsmith commentary - Planet of the Apes Blu-Ray Edition (2008)
- ↑ Eric Greene text commentary - Planet of the Apes Blu-Ray Edition (2008)
- ↑ Jerry Goldsmith Biography & Tribute, by Christian Clemmensen - Filmtracks.com
- ↑ John O'Callaghan; "The Great Apes Score Debate", Film Score Monthly