Lalo Schifrin, composer of the score for Mission: Impossible, has died at 93.

Argentinian composer Lalo Schifrin , the father of the unforgettable Mission: Impossible theme song and composer of over 100 film scores, has died at the age of 93, according to Variety , The Hollywood Reporter , and Deadline . Schifrin composed the iconic themes for Mission: Impossible , Bullitt , Starsky & Hutch , and Enter the Dragon . Winner of four Grammy Awards and an honorary Oscar in 2018, he was as much a conductor as a craftsman of orchestral groove. A star on the Walk of Fame, awarded in 1988, commemorates a master of rhythm and suspense.

A few years ago, during an interview with Figaro Magazine, Michel Legrand, who is not one for compliments when it comes to discussing his colleagues, confessed that, for him, one of the greatest film composers was Lalo Schifrin. He was right. This Argentinian, born in Buenos Aires in 1932 into a family of musicians, had demonstrated such precocious talent that his teacher helped him secure a scholarship to study in Paris. Goodbye to Perón's Buenos Aires; the time had come to return to the French capital of the 1950s, in the midst of jazz.

Schifrin loved classical music, but was especially a fan of bebop jazz. He had studied with Messiaen before returning to his country where national radio asked him to form and lead a big band. A miracle happened: the young man's idol, Dizzy Gillespie himself, heard him and hired him as an arranger and pianist. Schifrin would go on to compose the album Gillespiana with the trumpeter, featuring Latin percussion.

Schifrin's career was launched. He recorded albums that sold very well, and the cinema called upon him. René Clément asked him to write the score for Les Félins. Everything happened very quickly. For the big screen, he wrote, directed and arranged the music for Bullitt and The Cincinnati Kid, the legendary soundtrack for Operation Dragon with Bruce Lee, and several films by Clint Eastwood (including Dirty Harry ), with whom he got along wonderfully.

And then there will be the small screen, which will lead to memorable successes, the greatest of which are the themes from Mission: Impossible and Mannix . Authentic marvels: composition, arrangements, the science of timbres (the transverse flute from Mission: Impossible ). Everything is brilliant because Schifrin was. For Bullitt, he had the extraordinary idea, during the car race, of cutting the music every time Steve McQueen accelerated or changed gears in order to increase the tension.