Famed film composer Basil Poledouris has died from cancer at the age of 61. Poledouris, the man who brought us such scores as Conan the Barbarian, Free Willy and Starship Troopers, had beaten brain and lung cancer earlier this year, and even conducted at the International Film Music Congress in Úbeda, Spain in July.

No memorial is planned, but we ask that you visit his official messageboard and leave your thoughts and condolences for his family: http://basil.poledouris.com/

:(

His score to "Lonesome Dove" is one of my favorite scores ever.

The Society of Composers and Lyricists sent out this just moments ago to all of its members:

BASIL POLEDOURIS 1945-2006

THE SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS & LYRICISTS grieves the loss of our dear
friend, colleague and long-time SCL member, BASIL POLEDOURIS, who passed
away today from cancer at 12:30pm at Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.
He is survived by two children, his former wife Bobbi, a brother and a
sister. No services are planned. Donations to honor him may be made
in his name to the Catalina (Island) Conservancy and Mr. Holland’s Opus.
Basil Poledouris won an Emmy Award in 1989 for LONESOME DOVE, shared
special recognition with SCL Members John Williams, Michael Kamen, David
Foster and others for The Olympic Tribute Award in 1997, and won
numerous BMI Film & TV Awards.

From SCL President Dan Foliart:
Basil Poledouris was a composer's composer. His ability to freely adapt
to all styles of music and genres of both television and film made him
one of the most sought after film composers for three decades. His
suspense/ action work was heralded in such films as THE HUNT FOR RED
OCTOBER and ROBOCOP, but he could equally adapt to the warm comedic nuances
needed in such films as CROCODILE DUNDEE IN LOS ANGELES. His
heartwarming sensibilities were never more apparent than in FOR THE LOVE OF THE
GAME, LASSIE and FREE WILLY, but he helped redefined a genre with his
masterful work in LONESOME DOVE. Not only did his score reflect the epic
western orchestral music that was called for throughout this
mini-series, but his unique approach to some of the more intimate scenes helped
make this award winning score one of the defining works in the genre. He
will be dearly missed by his numerous friends and colleagues, but they
can have some comfort that his beautiful scores will forever be his
legacy.

I was telling some days ago that I hoped he would work again with Paul Verhoeven when I met the director. It's indeed a great loss for film music. Even if death is a normal thing and you can't do nothing about it, Basil was too young to leave us.
Farewell Basil.

Can't be! Just can't be!

He was truly one of the best composers of our time. Rest in peace!

This is a sad news. Les Misérables is one of my favorite score of all time.
Rest in peace.

NP: Les Misérables

Oh my god! What a shock. This is totally unexpected! He is one of my favorite composers. He has written some brilliant music. I was always hoping that we could hear more from him. Sigh, what a black day. May he rest in peace and I wish his family a lot of strength.

Was he ill for a long time?

I can't believe that - it's unrealistic!

We really need to know that these next few years it will be propably a time where many old filmmusic-legends could pass away in this way :(

I can't believe in wonders anymore :(
It's sad and I don't mean it bad but we have to keep it in our eye that everyday someone could die (neither a composer nor a friend or a part of our loveliest family). But s imagine in this case what would happen when John Williams dies :( I don't want to think about that!

Oh my God. Cancer? :(

Unbelievable, isn't it?

I have read that news in school this morning and I thought (or better say hoped) it must be a joke until i realized the source is Lukas Kendall. A major shock even though I heard he has health problems but i never thought of something so serious as lung AND brain cancer. It's so terribly sad.

My heart goes out to his friends and family. We will not forget him.

Don't know too much of his work but my condolensces to his family. I always confused this one with Brad Fiedel.
Since I've been on these forums and with the deaths of Jerry Goldsmith and Michael Kamen I think it's creepy how everything becomes so thin in the composing world.

Soundtrack.net has a tribute video for Basil Poledouris that was shown at the Film Music Festival in Ubeda, Spain this past summer is now available online. Watch it here:

http://soundtrack.net/news/article/?id=862

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...home-obituaries

Here's a touching tribute to Basil from his family and friends. The music is from Lonesome Dove
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvoF85-Agcc

RIP: Shirley Walker : 1945-2006

Looks like 2006 is the year where we are going to lost some good composers. Dan Goldwasser informed today that composer Shirley Walker has died of a brain aneurysm. She was 61. I didn't want to make this place a memorial forum so I thought I just post it here.

:(

I am sick of that kind of news really.

This november so many composers died. Poledouris was only the most commonly known of them. German film composer karl ernst sasse died a couple of weeks ago, Nigel Holton drowned and now Shirley Walker. This is unbelievable. 4 composers within less than a month.

It's amazing. Let's not forget Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein and Michael Kamen too who have died not too long ago. I mean the film composers community is a very small one. These past years have been hard for film music :(

I'm now listening to Free Willy. Breathtaking music. Basil had so much emotion in his music.

:(

totally agree. basil was just great! and free willy has a very good theme