Basil Poledouris, composed Atlanta Olympics opening music, dies
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Basil Poledouris, who composed the Emmy-winning score for the 1989 television miniseries "Lonesome Dove" and the opening fanfare for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, has died. He was 61.
Poledouris died of cancer on Wednesday at his Los Angeles home, according to Hanna Pantle, a spokeswoman for the performing rights organization BMI.
In the 1980s and 1990s, his rousing orchestral scores added heft to a raft of thrillers, including "Starship Troopers" and "The Hunt for Red October" as well as romantic features such as "Les Miserables" and "The Blue Lagoon."
In all, he composed for more than 80 movies and TV shows.
"He was one of the truly great movie composers. His music had tremendous emotion a certain kind of nobility," director John Milius told the Los Angeles Times.
Milius hired his surfing buddy and University of Southern California classmate to score several movies, including "Conan the Barbarian" and "Red Dawn."
Last summer, Poledouris directed a concert version of the 1982 "Conan" score at a film music conference in Ubeda, Spain. He considered the experience a career highlight, said Doreen Ringer Ross, a BMI vice president who worked with him more than 20 years.
Born in Kansas City, Mo., Poledouris grew up in Garden Grove. He took film scoring classes at USC from famed film composer Miklos Rozsa. He scored more than 100 educational films before breaking into features.
Poledouris lived on Vashon Island in Washington state for several years but recently returned to Los Angeles. He is survived by his mother, Helen, and a brother, John, both of Palm Desert, and by two daughters: Zoe, of Los Angeles and Alexis, of New York City.
