‘Mission: Impossible’ Composer Lalo Schifrin Dead at 93

Lalo Schifrin has died. The composer, best known for penning the Mission: Impossible theme, died on June 26 in a Los Angeles hospital, his wife, Donna, told The New York Times.

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The widow told the outlet that Schifrin’s death was a result of complications of pneumonia. He was 93.

Throughout his career, Schifrin wrote more than 100 film and television scores. He also conducted symphony and philharmonic orchestras, arranged, composed, and produced jazz music, and worked as a classical musician in his own right.

Lalo Schifrin Discussed Mission: Impossible

Schifrin’s theme for the Mission: Impossible TV series, which has also been used in the Tom Cruise-led film franchise, is his best known work.

In a 2018 interview with The Independent, Schifrin recalled what the show’s producer, Bruce Geller, requested for the theme.

“I want you to write something that will get people’s attention,” Schifrin said Geller told him. “Make it sound like a promise that there’s going to be a little bit of action. Like, when they’re in the kitchen having a soft drink and the television set is on in the living room, they’ll hear it and say, ‘Oh, Mission: Impossible is on!’ Then they’ll run immediately to the living room.”

Those instructions led Schifrin to revise his first attempt at the tune.

“I knew what I had to write,” he said. “I understood, it had to be like a call to the viewers to watch. What I needed to compose was like a logo for Mission: Impossible.”

He went on to write it in 90 seconds.

“I sat at my desk and wrote that theme in exactly one-and-a-half minutes. It was not inspiration; it was a need to do it. It was my own little mission impossible!” he told the outlet. “The whole thing – including the chorus, the bongos, everything you hear – took me maybe three minutes. I was creating sound of impossible missions and making them swing. I didn’t know it was going to be so successful.”

Lalo Schifrin’s Career Successes

The theme later appeared on an album, which went on to win two GRAMMYs. Those weren’t Schifrin’s only awards.

He was nominated for 19 GRAMMYs and won four during his career. Schifrin also took home a Latin GRAMMY and was nominated for six Academy Awards. Though he never won an Oscar, he was presented with an honorary statuette in 2018.

“The Mission: Impossible music changed my career because it became so popular,” he said, “and it opened doors for more serious commissions.”

According to The Times, Schifrin is survived by his wife of more than five decades, their son, Ryan, two children—a daughter, Frances, and a son, William—from his marriage to Silvia Schon, and four grandchildren.

Photo by Michael Buckner/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images