Lalo Schifrin, composer of the 'Mission: Impossible' theme, has died

L alo Schifrin, the composer who wrote the theme for the 'Mission: Impossible' series, later adapted for the big screen, and more than 100 other arrangements for film and television, died on Thursday at the age of 93.

Schifrin's sons, William and Ryan, confirmed his death to the media.

The Argentine has won four Grammys and been nominated for six Oscars, including five for the original soundtrack of 'Cool Hand Luke', 'The Fox', 'Voyage of the Damned', 'The Amityville Horror' and 'The Sting II'.

Schifrin, also a jazz pianist and classical conductor, had a distinguished career in music that included working with Dizzy Gillespie and recording with Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan, but perhaps his greatest contribution was the instantly recognizable score for the television series Mission: Impossible, which fueled the decades-long feature film saga led by Tom Cruise.

"Every film has its own personality. There are no rules for writing music for films," Schifrin told the Associated Press in 2018, arguing that "the film dictates what the music will be."

He also wrote the musical performance for the grand final of the Football World Cup in Italy in 1990, in which the Three Tenors - Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras - sang together for the first time, with the work becoming one of the biggest sales successes in the history of classical music.

Schifrin originally wrote a different song for the 'Mission: Impossible' theme, but series creator Bruce Geller liked another arrangement Schifrin had composed for an action sequence.

"The producer called me and said, 'You're going to have to write something exciting, almost like a logo, something that will be a signature, and it will start with a fuse,'" Schifrin told the AP in 2006.

"So I did it and there was nothing on the screen. And maybe the fact that I was so free and had no images to capture, maybe that's why this thing became so successful - because I wrote something that came from inside me," the late composer added.

When director Brian De Palma was asked to bring the series to the big screen, he wanted to take the theme with him, which led to a creative conflict with composer John Williams, who wanted to work with a new theme of his own. Williams left and Danny Elfman came in, who agreed to keep Schifrin's music.

The 'Mission: Impossible' series won Grammys for best instrumental theme and best original score from a motion picture or television program.

In 2017, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Schifrin moved easily between genres, winning a Grammy for 1965's 'Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts', while also being recognized that same year for the score for the television series 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' In 2018, he was awarded an honorary Oscar, and in 2017, the Latin Recording Academy awarded him one of its special curator awards.

Later film scores include 'Tango', 'Rush Hour' and its two sequels, 'Bringing Down The House', 'The Bridge of San Luis Rey', 'After the Sunset' and the horror film 'Abominable'.

When writing the arrangements for 'Dirty Harry', Schifrin decided that the main character was not in fact Clint Eastwood's hero, Harry Callahan, but the villain, Scorpio.

"You would expect the composer to pay more attention to the hero. But in this case, no, I did it for Scorpio, the bad guy, the villain," he told AP.

It was Clint Eastwood who presented him with the honorary Oscar.

"Receiving this honorary Oscar is the culmination of a dream, it is a mission accomplished," Schifrin said at the time.