Lalo Schifrin, composer of the Mission: Impossible theme, dies at 93

Lalo Schifrin, the composer who wrote the endlessly catchy theme for “Mission: Impossible” and more than 100 other arrangements for film and television, died Thursday.He was 93.Schifrin’s sons William and Ryan confirmed his death to trade outlets.

The Associated Press’ messages to Schifrin’s publicist and representatives for either brother were not immediately returned.The Argentine won four Grammys and was nominated for six Oscars, including five for original score for “Cool Hand Luke,” “The Fox,” “Voyage of the Damned,” “The Amityville Horror” and “The Sting II.”“Every movie has its own personality.There are no rules to write music for movies,” Schifrin told The Associated Press in 2018.

“The movie dictates what the music will be.”He also wrote the grand finale musical performance for the World Cup championship in Italy in 1990, in which the Three Tenors — Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras — sang together for the first time.The work became one of the biggest sellers in the history of classical music.Schifrin, also a jazz pianist and classical conductor, had a remarkable career in music that included working with Dizzy Gillespie and recording with Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan.

But perhaps his biggest contribution was the instantly recognizable score to television’s “Mission: Impossible,” which fueled the just-wrapped, decades-spanning feature film franchise led by Tom Cruise.Written in the unusual 5/4 time signature, the theme — Dum-dum DUM DUM dum-dum DUM DUM — was married to an on-screen self-destruct clock that kicked off the TV show, which ran from 1966 to 1973.It was described as “only the most contagious tune ever heard by mortal ears” by New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane and even hit No.

41 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968.Schifrin originally wrote a different piece of music for the theme song but series creator Bruce Geller liked another arrangement Schifrin had composed for...