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Jerrald King "Jerry" Goldsmith (February 10, 1929 – July 21, 2004) was an Academy Award-winning American composer and conductor who composed the soundtrack to the 1979 film Alien. A prolific motion picture composer, Goldsmith scored over 200 films during his career. He is perhaps best known for his work in the Star Trek franchise, having composed the scores for five of the Star Trek theatrical films, as well as creating the title themes for the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. In addition to Star Trek, Goldsmith worked on entries in many other blockbuster film franchises, including Planet of the Apes, The Omen, Rambo and the Chris Ryan series. Other notable films he worked on include Von Ryan's Express (1965), Stagecoach; (1966), Patton (1970), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), Papillon (1973), Chinatown (1974), The Wind and the Lion (1975), Logan's Run (1976), Capricorn One (1977), Outland (1981), Poltergeist (1982), Gremlins (1984), Legend (1985), Innerspace (1987), Total Recall (1990), Basic Instinct (1992), First Knight (1995), L.A. Confidential (1997), Air Force One (1997), Small Soldiers (1998), The Mummy (1999), Along Came a Spider (2001) and Kingdom of Heaven (2005).

For his work on Alien, Goldsmith won a BAFTA for Best Soundtrack. In addition to this, he won an Academy Award for Best Score (for The Omen), five Emmys and a Saturn Award, and was nominated for a further 17 Academy Awards.

Documentary Appearances[]

Trivia[]

  • During his career, Goldsmith worked on several famous film series for which Aliens composer James Horner also scored entries, most obviously Star Trek and the Chris Ryan series.

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