Lalo Schifrin has died: Listen again to five iconic themes from the composer of “Mission: Impossible”

Published on June 27, 2025 at 3:07 p.m. , updated on June 27, 2025 at 3:21 p.m.

Reading time: 2 min.

The American-Argentine composer died Thursday at the age of 93. We take a look back at five of his unforgettable scores, from "Mission: Impossible" to "Bullitt," including "Dragon," "Mannix," and "The Fox."

"I don't know if I deserved the career I had; my life is just a series of encounters made in the right place at the right time." This very humble vision of existence and creative genius was given by the American-Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin, who died on Thursday, June 26 at the age of 93, about ten years ago, at the twilight of a very prolific life.

In our video at the top of the article, we take a look back at five of his unforgettable pieces of music, from the theme from "Mission: Impossible" to that of "Bullitt", including the theme song for the series "Mannix", the soundtrack for "Dragon" and that of "The Fox", which inspired the famous Dim advert.

Boris Claudio Schifrin, known as Lalo Schifrin, has composed the soundtracks for over 100 films and has been nominated for six Oscars. In 2018, he was awarded an honorary Oscar for his lifetime achievement—an award given to only two other composers, Ennio Morricone and Quincy Jones, according to Deadline. He has also received a host of other honors, including the Grammy Awards, the musical equivalent of the Oscars.

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Born on June 21, 1932 in Buenos Aires into a family of Jewish emigrants from Russia, he was encouraged to pursue a musical path by his father, first violinist of the Buenos Aires Symphony Orchestra, and learned to play the piano at a very young age.

A great connoisseur of classical music, he developed a passion for jazz with Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker. He then discovered American cinema with George Gershwin, whose "Rhapsody in Blue" he heard at the age of 14.

A student in Paris, he regularly attended the Cinémathèque

In 1953, he won a scholarship to the Conservatoire National de Musique in Paris. With Olivier Messiaen, he perfected his knowledge of 20th ^- century symphonic music and his taste for the connections between sounds and images.

A bebop pianist at the Club Saint Saint-Germain by night, he was a regular at the Cinémathèque Française. There, he maintained an excellent command of French, tinged with a strong Argentinian accent.

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Back in Argentina, he was spotted by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, for whom he wrote the arrangements for "Gillespiana", which went gold.

Then René Clément called on him for "Les Félins" (1964), with Alain Delon and Jane Fonda. Alternating between tragedy and burlesque, harmony and dissonance, his score, a little sonic gem, juggles between jazz, symphonic music and surf music.

Two Grammy Awards for "Mission: Impossible"

In Hollywood, where he was now established, he met television producer Bruce Geller, who commissioned his most famous score, "Mission: Impossible" (1966). Its repetitive, syncopated motif, so evocative of the urgency and suspense of spy films, is immediately recognizable.

This musical theme has seen many variations, from the one written for the 1960s television series to eight feature films starring Tom Cruise as Agent Ethan Hunt. The piece has also earned the composer two Grammy Awards, the musical equivalent of the Oscars.

1968 was the year of the soundtrack for "Bullitt," but also for "The Fox," a Canadian comedy-drama adapted from a novel by British author DH Lawrence, who also wrote "Lady Chatterley's Lover." It's easy to forget, but the main theme of this film serves as the basis for Hugo Montenegro's lively cover, heard in Dim's commercials.

Sampled by many artists

Thanks to television, Schifrin entered homes and his brassy swing scores were imprinted on the minds of an entire youth who grew up with his hits.

A visionary, he has been sampled by hip-hop and electro artists like Portishead. Swing, pop, funk, bossa nova, dodecaphony: all these rhythms integrated into his scores have given his music an untouchable modernity, as evidenced by "The Sound of Lalo Schifrin," an anthology of his work released in 2016.

Le Nouvel Observateur

Lalo Schifrin has died: Listen again to five iconic themes from the composer of “Mission: Impossible”

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