Jerry Goldsmith

Jerrald King Jerry Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for such noteworthy films as The Sand Pebbles, Logans Run, Planet of the Apes, Patton, Papillon, Chinatown, The Wind and the Lion, The Omen, The Boys from Brazil, Alien, Poltergeist, The Secret of NIMH, Gremlins, Hoosiers, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Rudy, Air Force One, L.A. Confidential, Mulan, The Mummy, three Rambo films, and five Star Trek films. He collaborated with some of film historys most accomplished directors, including Robert Wise, Howard Hawks, Otto Preminger, Joe Dante, Roman Polanski, Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, Paul Verhoeven, and Franklin J. Schaffner. Goldsmith was nominated for six Grammy Awards, five Primetime Emmy Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, and eighteen Academy Awards. In 1976, he was awarded an Academy Award for The Omen.

Goldsmith, who was Jewish, was bornFebruary 1929 in Los Angeles, California. His parents were Tessa , a school teacher, and Morris Goldsmith, a structural engineer. He started playing piano at age six, but only got serious by the time he was eleven. At age thirteen, he studied piano privately with legendary concert pianist and educator Jakob Gimpel and by the age of sixteen he was studying both theory and counterpoint under Italian composer Mario CastelnuovoTedesco, who also tutored such noteworthy composers and musicians as Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle, Herman Stein, Andr Previn, Marty Paich, and John Williams.

Source: Wikipedia