Basil Poledouris

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Basil Poledouris (born Basilis Konstantine Poledouris * August 21, 1945 in Kansas City , Missouri , † November 8, 2006 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American film composer with Greek roots.

Life

At the age of seven, Basil Poledouris began taking piano lessons , which laid the foundation for his later career. After graduating from school, he studied - in the same year as George Lucas - at the University of Southern California ( University of Southern California ), among other things, cinematography and music . During his time at university, he made contact with directors John Milius and Randal Kleiser , with whom he later worked.

With his wife Bobbie he had two children, Zoë and Alexis. Although Poledouris was often on the road for work, his main residence remained his native Kansas City. He spent the last four years of his life on Vashon Island near Seattle.

On November 8, 2006, he died of cancer.

plant

He wrote his first film music for the film "Extreme Close-Up" in 1973. Although he received minor awards for his score for the films Day of Decision (Director: John Milius, 1978) and The Blue Lagoon (Director: Randal Kleiser, 1980), his breakthrough came with the film adaptation of Conan the Barbarian (also by John Milius, 1982): The title sequence “Anvil of Crom” contained the chorales and horn passages typical of Poledouris later for the first time .

1985 saw the first collaboration with Paul Verhoeven , for whose first English-language film Flesh and Blood Poledouris wrote the music. In 1987 the music for Robocop was created , the second collaboration with Verhoeven. Poledouris was to continue to work with Verhoeven later on, as Verhoeven “was impressed by its drama,” said Verhoeven in the mid-1990s.

Due to his increasing popularity, Poledouris was able to work with screenwriter Larry McMurtry to write the score for the five-hour western Lonesome Dove , for which he received an Emmy in 1990 . By then he had already written film scores for over 18 films. In the same year Poledouris wrote the music for the film Hunt for Red October in cooperation with the director John McTiernan . The theme song entitled "Hymn To Red October" alludes to the October Revolution in Russia. It is stylistically based on the national anthem of the Soviet Union .

Until 1995 he wrote the music for Free Willy - Call of Freedom (1993) and Free Willy 2 - Freedom in Danger (1995), for Hot Shots! The second attempt (also 1993) and for otherwise rather unknown American productions. In 1996 Poledouris was given the honor of writing music for the opening of the Olympic Games in Atlanta : "The Tradition of the Games" is the title.

In 1997 he continued his work with Paul Verhoeven and composed the score for Starship Troopers . This was recorded with a 96-piece orchestra . In the same year he also wrote the cover story for Breakdown with Kurt Russell . His music for Les Misérables (directed by Bille August , 1998) was also awarded; In 1999 he composed the music for Mickey Blue Eyes . He also composed the music for two IMAX films.

style

Due to his early musical training on the piano, Poledouris' style was mainly influenced by Prokofiev . This is in contrast to the classical composers like Mozart or Haydn , whom he later studied at the university. These contrasts are also reflected in his music: Although Poledouris often designed very emotional and "pompous" works that were also recorded with an appropriate orchestra (e.g. the theme music for the Hunt for Red October ), there are also occasional very subtle ones Pieces, for example the relatively calm music to Randal Kleiser's It's my Party (1996), which was written for just a single piano.

Filmography (selection)

Other works

Trivia

Basil Poledouris appeared as an extra in some Spaceship Enterprise episodes , e.g. B. in episode 21 of the third season: Stencils of Violence (1968)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006231/
  2. ↑ http://de.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Schablonen_der_Gewalt
personal data
SURNAME Poledouris, Basil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Poledouris, Basilis Konstantine (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film composer
DATE OF BIRTH August 21, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Kansas City , Missouri
DATE OF DEATH November 8, 2006
Place of death Los Angeles , California