Boris Claudio 'Lalo' Schifrin was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From the age of six, Schifrin studied piano, and in his teens became interested in jazz. In 1955, Schifrin formed a jazz orchestra that became part of a popular weekly variety show on Buenos Aires TV. Schifrin also began accepting other film, television and radio assignments. In 1960, Dizzy Gillespie invited Schifrin to fill the vacant piano chair in his quintet. Schifrin immediately accepted and moved to New York City. In 1963, MGM offered the composer his first Hollywood film assignment with the African adventure, Rhino!, and Schifrin moved to Hollywood.
During a highly productive time composing soundtrack music for film and TV, one of Schifrin's most recognizable and enduring compositions was the theme music for the TV series Mission: Impossible. He also composed scores for Cool Hand Luke and Bullitt, and for Clint Eastwood vehicles Coogan's Bluff (1968) and Dirty Harry (1971). Schifrin's score for The Exorcist (1973) was rejected by the film's director, William Friedkin, after audiences were reportedly frightened by the combination of sights and sounds. He has won four Grammy Awards (with twenty-one nominations), one Cable ACE Award, and received six Oscar nominations, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
When Planet Of The Apes was launched as a TV series on CBS-TV in September 1974, Lalo Schifrin was called in to score the pilot episode, titled 'Escape from Tomorrow'. He went on to compose the music for almost all the episodes of the short-lived series. To publicize the show in October 1974, 20th Century Fox issued a Lalo Schifrin single called 'Ape Shuffle'. Although subtitled 'Theme From Planet Of The Apes', it was more similar to Schifrin's Enter The Dragon theme than to the discordant music the composer used to score the Apes TV show. It was backed with 'Escape From Tomorrow' - the pilot episode's main theme spiced with a bit more melody and a disco beat. Both tracks were included in the LP and CD, Lalo Schifrin - Most Wanted 1968-1979. A soundtrack CD from the TV show was finally released in 2005.
External Links[]
Lalo_Schifrin on Wikipedia
Lalo Schifrin on IMDb- Lalo Schifrin official website
- Take Five!, by John Roche - 'Simian Scrolls' #14 (2007)