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Lalo Schifrin 1932 - 2025

Lalo Claudio Schifrin of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California United States was born on June 21, 1932 in Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Argentina, and died at age 93 years old on June 26, 2025 in Los Angeles, California United States.

Lalo Claudio Schifrin
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Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California United States
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June 21, 1932
Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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June 26, 2025
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United States
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Updated: July 4, 2025
Biography ID: 192960361 What's this
Lalo Schifrin Lalo Schifrin (1932 - 2025)
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Lalo Claudio Schifrin's History: 1932 - 2025

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  • 06/21
    1932

    Birthday

    June 21, 1932
    Birthdate
    Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Argentina
    Birthplace
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  • Nationality & Locations

    Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Lalo was 36 when he filed his naturalization petition on May 19th, 1969 in the U.S. District Court of Los Angeles, California. Alvin N. Bart of 1444 Queens Road in Los Angeles, and Robert E. Fainaru of 8006 Loma Verde, Canoga Park were his Affidavit of Witnesses. Lalo lived in Los Angeles the rest of his life.

  • Personal Life & Family

    Lalo was 39 years old when he married 29 year old Donna J. Cockrell on August 1st, 1971 in Los Angeles, California.
  • 06/26
    2025

    Death

    June 26, 2025
    Death date
    Unknown
    Cause of death
    Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California United States
    Death location
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  • Obituary

    Lalo Schifrin, 93, Dies; Composer of ‘Mission: Impossible’ and Much More He was best known for one enduring TV theme, but he had a startlingly diverse career as a composer, arranger, and conductor in a wide range of genres. Lalo Schifrin worked as a pianist, composer, and arranger with Dizzy Gillespie before beginning his long career as a film composer. By Jeré Longman Updated June 29, 2025 Lalo Schifrin, the Grammy-winning Argentine-born composer who evoked the ticking, ominous suspense of espionage with his indelible theme to the television series “Mission: Impossible” as well as scored movies like “Cool Hand Luke,” “Bullitt” and “Dirty Harry,” died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 93. His wife, Donna, said the cause of his death, in a hospital, was complications of pneumonia. Mr. Schifrin had a startlingly diverse career as a composer, arranger and conductor in a wide range of genres — from classical to jazz to Latin to folk to rock to hip-hop to electronic to the ancient music of the Aztecs. He conducted symphony orchestras in London and Vienna, and philharmonic orchestras in Tel Aviv, Paris and Los Angeles. He arranged music for the Three Tenors. He provided what The Washington Post called the music of “rebellious cool” for Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood. ImageThe two of them are standing at a podium, with an Oscar statuette in front of them. Mr. Schifrin looks at Mr. Eastwood with a wide-eyed expression. When Mr. Schifrin won an honorary Academy Award in 2018, it was given to him by Clint Eastwood, a frequent collaborator.Credit...Kevin Winter/Getty Images But the prolific Mr. Schifrin, who wrote more than 100 film and television scores, was best known for “Mission: Impossible.” Interpretations of his propulsive theme have also been featured in the eight movies in the “Mission: Impossible” series, starring Tom Cruise, which began in 1996. Like John Williams, whose many compositions for film include the theme from “Jaws,” Mr. Schifrin was a master of creating jittery unease and peril. Both composers worked with a recognizable style and a distinct purpose. Mr. Williams used a repeated, hastening two-note “dun-dun, dun-dun” motif to create the serrated dread of a shark attack. Mr. Schifrin’s “Mission: Impossible” theme has an unusual 5/4 time signature: “DUN-dun da-da, DUN-dun da-da.” As a match-lit fuse sparked across the television screen toward the possible detonation of a bomb in the show’s opening montage, the driving rhythm induced jazzy tension and unsettling intrigue in a world of spycraft. Some listeners found hints in Mr. Schifrin’s theme of “Take Five,” the Paul Desmond composition, also in 5/4 time, that was a hit for Dave Brubeck. Others noted a similarity to Morse code, with a dash-dash dot-dot beat that spells “M.I.” In 2006, Anthony Lane, a film critic for The New Yorker, lamented the sparse use of the theme music in “Mission: Impossible III,” calling Mr. Schifrin’s theme “only the most contagious tune ever heard by mortal ears.” When asked about the 5/4 meter at a news conference in Vienna, Mr. Schifrin joked that what he had in mind was visitors arriving on interplanetary flights: “The people in outer space have five legs and couldn’t dance to our music, so I wrote it for them.” The original series ran on CBS from 1966 to 1973, with a cast that over the years included Peter Graves, Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Greg Morris and Peter Lupus. The show followed a team of secret government agents assigned to undermine dictatorial governments behind the Iron Curtain and in developing nations with urgency, disguises, and elaborate tactics. (A second series ran for two seasons on ABC, beginning in 1988.) In 2018, Mr. Schifrin told the British newspaper The Independent that Bruce Geller, the creator of “Mission: Impossible,” told him to write a piece of music that would get people’s attention, “something exciting” to accompany the image, in the show’s opening credit sequence, of a fuse being lit. His first attempt was a march, but Mr. Geller wanted something more dramatic. He showed Mr. Schifrin a rough edit of the pilot episode. “Make it sound like a promise that there’s going to be a little bit of action,” Mr. Schifrin recalled Mr. Geller telling him. “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 into the living room.” So he wrote what became the familiar theme, with the working title “Burning Fuse,” which he said on numerous occasions took him all of 90 seconds. The percussive brass, woodwind and bongo sections took “maybe” three minutes, he said, creating a sound that The Independent likened to “a pounding step in a sensational chase sequence.” “It was my own little mission impossible,” he was fond of saying. Boris Claudio Schifrin was born on June 21, 1932, in Buenos Aires. His father, Luis Schifrin, was a violinist and concertmaster with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic. His mother, Clara (Slifquin) Schifrin, who came from a musical family, ran the household. Having grown up immersed in classical music (he learned to play the piano at age 6) and knowing little about jazz, he described hearing Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie as “a religious conversion.” But, he told The New York Post in 2015, Juan Perón, the nationalist president of Argentina, restricted the import of American jazz records, so Mr. Schifrin befriended a merchant marine, who smuggled in music for him. “I was breaking the law,” he said. “Even in the summer, I had to put on an overcoat and put the records under the belly and covered them with my belt.” Image Wearing a blue blazer and large glasses, he stands in front of a door with his arms folded. Mr. Schifrin in 2007. He wrote more than 100 film and television scores after moving to Los Angeles in 1963.Credit...Joel Saget/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images He studied law at the University of Buenos Aires, but his primary interest was music. He won a scholarship to the Paris Conservatory, where he studied by day while playing piano in jazz clubs at night. He returned to Buenos Aires in 1956. Mr. Gillespie, impressed when he heard Mr. Schifrin’s big band at a reception at the U.S. Embassy there, invited him to come to the United States. He did, but not right away. In 1958, he obtained a green card and moved to New York, where he later reunited with Mr. Gillespie, working with him as a pianist, arranger and composer from 1960 to 1962. His first album as a member of the Gillespie band, “Gillespiana,” was devoted entirely to Mr. Schifrin’s acclaimed suite of the same name. He also recorded several albums as a leader for the Verve label and wrote arrangements for Stan Getz, Sarah Vaughan and others. Mr. Schifrin moved to Los Angeles in 1963. His first movie score was for “Rhino!,” a 1964 adventure film. He won Grammy Awards for best original jazz composition for “The Cat” in 1965 and “Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts” in 1966. In 1968 his “Mission: Impossible” music won two Grammys, one for the theme and one for the soundtrack. His “Pampas” won a Latin Grammy in 2010 for best classical contemporary composition. Mr. Schifrin was nominated for an Academy Award for his scores to six movies — “Cool Hand Luke” (1967), “The Fox” (1967), “Voyage of the Damned” (1976), “The Amityville Horror” (1979), “The Competition” (1980) and “The Sting II” (1983) — but never won. He did, however, receive an honorary Oscar in 2018. He was presented with the statuette by Mr. Eastwood, with whom he collaborated eight times. Image A movie poster with the words “Steve McQueen as ‘Bullitt’” underneath a photo of McQueen, tinted orange, against a multicolored background. Perhaps Mr. Schifrin’s most provocative movie moment came in “Bullitt” (1968): That film’s famous 10-minute car chase contained no music at all.Credit...Warner Bros, via LMPC, via Getty Images Perhaps Mr. Schifrin’s most provocative movie moment came in “Bullitt” (1968), with what The Washington Post described as “a radical absence of music.” As Mr. McQueen famously squealed through the streets of San Francisco in his Ford Mustang during a 10-minute car chase, there was no background music. When the movie’s director, Peter Yates, objected, Mr. Schifrin is said to have responded, “Silence is also music.” In addition to his wife, whom he married in 1971, Mr. Schifrin is survived by their son, Ryan; a daughter, Frances Newcombe, and a son, William Schifrin, from his marriage to Silvia Schon, which ended in divorce; and four grandchildren. “I am proud of being eclectic,” Mr. Schifrin told Bruce Duffie, a Chicago radio host, in 1988. He added, “I don’t know why people have a tendency of putting labels, and thinking, for instance, classical music is something that belongs to a museum and jazz belongs to another kind of museum.” new More to Discover Expand to see more Christie Brinkley, who has been married four times, reflects on her past relationships from her home in Sag Harbor, N.Y. “Everything I’ve been through, all the pain, the stupidity, I would do it again because I believe in love,” she said. style Christie Brinkley Isn't Giving Up on Love opinion We’ve Just Seen How Trump Can Be Stopped Sean Combs in 2018. The rap mogul has been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, and pleaded not guilty. arts As Sean Combs Took a Victory Lap, He Planned Sex Nights, Prosecutors Say More in Music Sean Combs in 2018. The rap mogul has been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, and pleaded not guilty. arts As Sean Combs Took a Victory Lap, He Planned Sex Nights, Prosecutors Say Save for later Try Something Different Christie Brinkley, who has been married four times, reflects on her past relationships from her home in Sag Harbor, N.Y. “Everything I’ve been through, all the pain, the stupidity, I would do it again because I believe in love,” she said. Clark Hodgin for The New York Times style Christie Brinkley Isn't Giving Up on Love Save for later Mark Peterson for The New York Times opinion We’ve Just Seen How Trump Can Be Stopped Save for later Freddie, a beagle and an agriculture detector dog, was found to have contusions after he was kicked by a traveler from Egypt at Dulles International Airport in Virginia this week, the authorities said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection us Man Who Kicked Customs Dog Is Turned Away at D.C. Airport, U.S. Says Save for later Dashcam footage shows a fireball streaking through the sky in Anderson, S.C., on Thursday. Image by Kathryn Rose Farr/Storyful us Mysterious Fireball Reported Over South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee Save for later Your Saved Articles See all archives Paid Notice: Memorials KLEIN, FELIX For more stories, return to home. Corrections were made on June 29, 2025: An earlier version of this obituary misstated the maiden name of Mr. Schifrin’s mother. It is Slifquin, not Ester. An earlier version of this obituary misstated the year the movie “Voyage of the Damned” came out. It was 1976, not 1967. When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at [contact link] more Jeré Longman is a Times reporter on the Obituaries desk who writes the occasional sports-related story.
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Did you know?
In 1932, in the year that Lalo Schifrin was born, five years to the day after Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic, Amelia Earhart flew solo from Newfoundland to Ireland, the first woman to cross the Atlantic solo and the first to replicate Lindbergh's feat. She flew over 2,000 miles in just under 15 hours.
Did you know?
In 1940, when he was just 8 years old, on November 5th, President Franklin Roosevelt was elected to a third term, defeating Wendell Willkie of Indiana (a corporate lawyer). Roosevelt running for a third term was controversial. But the U.S. was emerging from the Great Recession and he promised that he would not involve the country in any foreign war (which of course changed when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor). Roosevelt defeated Willkie in the popular vote by 54.7 to 44.8% and in the Electoral College 449 to 82.
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Other Schifrin Family Biographies

Schifrin, Harry (Mar 14, 1903 - Dec 1987) Schifrin, Hyman (Oct 1, 1922 - Apr 30, 2007) Schifrin, Eli (Feb 22, 1920 - Jul 10, 2005) Schifrin, Saul (Dec 18, 1895 - Feb 1976) Schifrin, Augusta (Aug 11, 1901 - Jul 21, 2002) Schifrin, Ceil (Jun 17, 1895 - Feb 1987) Schifrin, Sylvia (Jul 2, 1912 - Mar 1986) Schifrin, Jack (Dec 11, 1896 - Jul 1987) Schifrin, Charles (Dec 11, 1916 - Mar 1975) Schifrin, Bessie (Sep 2, 1899 - Oct 1983)
Schifrin, Elizabeth (Dec 23, 1903 - Dec 11, 1993) Schifrin, Ida (Sep 23, 1905 - Nov 1993) Schifrin, Anne (Sep 3, 1938 - Sep 4, 1997) Schifrin, Shirley (Jan 5, 1912 - Mar 17, 2006) Schifrin, Fannie (Sep 14, 1910 - Mar 6, 2002) Schifrin, Abbijane (Aug 31, 1957 - Mar 13, 2009) Schifrin, Francene (Aug 4, 1935 - Mar 28, 1991) Schifrin, Frieda (Dec 22, 1920 - Mar 11, 2003) Schifrin, Louis (Dec 25, 1909 - Mar 1979) Schifrin, Helen (Jun 11, 1916 - Sep 1977)
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