Library Guides: Composers You Should Know: Film

Notable Film Music Composers

If you wish to be generally familiar with film music, here is a short list of composers you should know. Also try some reference books like Contemporary Musicians or books with a call number starting with ML 2075.

Name	Birth	Death	Nationality	Representative Pieces
Bernstein, Elmer	1922	2004	American	The Magnificent Seven, The Ten Commandments, Airplane!, Cape Fear (1991), Ghostbusters, Three Amigos, Thoroughly Modern Millie
Elfman, Danny	1953		American	Beetlejuice, Batman, The Simpsons, Men in Black, Sleepy Hollow, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Big Fish, Spider-Man
Goldsmith, Jerry	1929	2004	American	The Omen (1976), Star Trek, Gremlins, Planet of the Apes, Chinatown, Alien, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mulan, The Mummy, Total Recall
Herrmann, Bernard	1911	1975	American	Citizen Kane, Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds, The Devil and Daniel Webster, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Taxi Driver, Cape Fear
Horner, James	1953	2015	American	Aliens, Braveheart, Titanic, Glory, A Beautiful Mind, Avatar, Troy, Flightplan, Patriot Games, Field of Dreams, The Missing
Howard, James Newton	1951		American	Unbreakable, The Fugitive, The Sixth Sense, King Kong (2005), ER, The Dark Knight & Batman Begins (with Hans Zimmer)
Ifukube, Akira	1914	2006	Japanese	Godzilla (1954) and many sequels, Destroy All Monsters, The Burmese Harp
Jarre, Maurice	1924	2009	French	Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, A Passage to India, Witness, Ghost, Dead Poets Society, Fatal Attraction
Mancini, Henry ML410 .M2715	1924	1994	American	The Pink Panther, Moon River, Peter Gunn, Hatari!, The Glass Menagerie, The Party
Morricone, Ennio	1928		Italian	Once Upon a Time in the West, A Fistful of Dollars, The Untouchables, The Mission, The Good The Bad and The Ugly
Newman, Thomas	1955		American	WALL-E, The Shawshank Redemption, Finding Nemo, Real Genius, American Beauty, The Lost Boys, Little Women
Poledouris, Basil	1945	2006	American	Conan the Barbarian, The Hunt for Red October, RoboCop, Free Willy, Starship Troopers, Lonesome Dove, Red Dawn
Rota, Nino	1911	1979	Italian	The Godfather, Romeo & Juliet, La dolce vita, other Fellini films
Rózsa, Miklós	1907	1995	Hungarian-American	Ben-Hur, Spellbound, A Double Life, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Schifrin, Lalo ML410 .S2575	1932		Argentine	Mission Impossible, The Amityville Horror, Rush Hour, Dirty Harry
Shore, Howard	1946		Canadian	The Lord of the Rings, Silence of the Lambs, Mrs. Doubtfire, Big, The Fly, The Aviator, The Last Mimzy
Silvestri, Alan	1950		American	Beowulf, Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, The Polar Express, Van Helsing, Cast Away, The Avengers, Predator
Steiner, Max	1888	1971	Austrian-American	King Kong (1933), Casablanca, The Caine Mutiny, The Informer, Gone with the Wind
Tiomkin, Dimitri	1894	1979	Russian	High Noon, It's a Wonderful Life, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, The Unforgiven, Town Without Pity, The Guns of Navarone
Vangelis	1943		Greek	Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Alexander, Antarctica
Waxman, Franz	1906	1967	German-American	Taras Bulba, Rear Window, Suspicion, Rebecca, Bride of Frankenstein, Sunset Boulevard, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
Williams, John	1932		American	Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Schindler's List, Superman, E.T., Catch Me if You Can, Memoirs of a Geisha
Zimmer, Hans	1957		German	Inception, Batman Begins, Pirates of the Caribbean, Black Hawk Down, The Lone Ranger (2013), Madagascar, Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Film Music Composers

Name	Birth	Death	Nationality	Representative Pieces
Barry, John	1933	2011	English	The Lion in Winter, Born Free, Dances with Wolves, James Bond movies, Out of Africa, The Game of Death
Bernstein, Elmer	1922	2004	American	The Magnificent Seven, The Ten Commandments, Airplane!, Cape Fear (1991), Ghostbusters, Three Amigos, Thoroughly Modern Millie
Broughton, Bruce	1945		American	Tombstone, Lost in Space, So I Married an Axe Murderer, Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
Burwell, Carter	1955		Americna	Fargo, True Grit (2010), Being John Malkovich, Twilight, The Rookie, No Country for Old Men, The Big Lebowski
Conti, Bill	1942		American	Rocky, The Right Stuff, For Your Eyes Only, The Karate Kid, Private Benjamin
Desplat, Alexandre	1961		French	The King's Speech, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fantasic Mr. Fox, Argo, The Queen, Zero Dark Thirty
Doyle, Patrick	1953		American	Henry V, Shipwrecked, Sense & Sensibility, Hamlet, Thor, Brave, Frankenstein (1994), Dead Again, Bridget Jones's Diary
Elfman, Danny	1953		American	Beetlejuice, Batman, The Simpsons, Men in Black, Sleepy Hollow, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Big Fish, Spider-Man
Friedhofer, Hugo	1901	1981	American	Casablanca, The Sun Also Rises (1957), An Affair to Remember, The Best Years of our Lives
Giacchino, Michael	1967		American	Lost, Up, Star Trek (2009), Ratatouille, The Incredibles
Goldsmith, Jerry	1929	2004	American	The Omen (1976), Star Trek, Gremlins, Planet of the Apes, Chinatown, Alien, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mulan, The Mummy, Total Recall
Goodwin, Ron	1925	2003	British	Frenzy, Where Eagles Dare, Battle of Britain, Force 10 from Navarone, Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines
Gregson-Williams, Harry	1961		British	Shrek, Kingdom of the Sun, The Chronicles of Narnia, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Chicken Run
Hamlisch, Marvin	1944		American	The Way We Were, Ice Castles, The Sting, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Mirror Has Two Faces
Herrmann, Bernard	1911	1975	American	Citizen Kane, Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds, The Devil and Daniel Webster, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Taxi Driver, Cape Fear
Hisaishi, Joe	1950		Japanese	Spirited Away, Ponyo, Departures, Princess Mononoke
Horner, James	1953	2015	American	Aliens, Braveheart, Titanic, Glory, A Beautiful Mind, Avatar, Troy, Flightplan, Patriot Games, Field of Dreams, The Missing
Howard, James Newton	1951		American	Unbreakable, The Fugitive, The Sixth Sense, King Kong (2005), ER, The Dark Knight & Batman Begins (with Hans Zimmer)
Ifukube, Akira	1914	2006	Japanese	Godzilla (1954) and many sequels, Destroy All Monsters, The Burmese Harp
Jarre, Maurice	1924	2009	French	Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, A Passage to India, Witness, Ghost, Dead Poets Society, Fatal Attraction
Kaczmarek, Jan A.P.	1953		Polish	Finding Neverland, The Visitor, The Karamazov Brothers
Kamen, Michael	1948	2003	American	Mr. Holland's Opus, Band of Brothers, Lethal Weapon, X-Men, Die Hard, The Iron Giant, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Korngold, Erich Wolfgang	1897	1957	Czech-American	The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Captain Blood
Mancini, Henry ML410 .M2715	1924	1994	American	The Pink Panther, Moon River, Peter Gunn, Hatari!, The Glass Menagerie, The Party
Morricone, Ennio	1928		Italian	Once Upon a Time in the West, A Fistful of Dollars, The Untouchables, The Mission, The Good The Bad and The Ugly
Morris, John	1926		American	Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, The Elephant Man (1980), Clue, Spaceballs, Johnny Dangerously
Newman, Alfred	1901	1970	American	South Pacific, How the West Was Won, Camelot (1967), The Song of Bernadette, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), Airport
Newman, Randy	1943		American	Toy Story, Pleasantville, Monsters Inc., The Natural
Newman, Thomas	1955		American	WALL-E, The Shawshank Redemption, Finding Nemo, Real Genius, American Beauty, The Lost Boys, Little Women
North, Alex	1910	1991	American	Spartacus, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Good Morning Vietnam, Death of a Salesman, Cleopatra
Poledouris, Basil	1945	2006	American	Conan the Barbarian, The Hunt for Red October, RoboCop, Free Willy, Starship Troopers, Lonesome Dove, Red Dawn
Powell, John	1963		British	Rio, Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, Happy Feet, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Kung Fu Panda, The Lorax, Rat Race, Robots
Reznor, Trent	1965		American	The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Lost Highway
Rosenman, Leonard	1924	2008	American	Rebel Without a Cause, Fantastic Voyage, East of Eden, The Lord of the Rings (1978), sequels of Planet of the Apes, RoboCop, Star Trek
Rota, Nino	1911	1979	Italian	The Godfather, Romeo & Juliet, La dolce vita, other Fellini films
Rózsa, Miklós	1907	1995	Hungarian-American	Ben-Hur, Spellbound, A Double Life, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Sawtell, Paul	1906	1971	Polish-American	Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Fly (1958), many Tarzan movies in the 1940s & 50s
Schifrin, Lalo ML410 .S2575	1932		Argentine	Mission Impossible, The Amityville Horror, Rush Hour, Dirty Harry
Shankar, Ravi ML419 .S49	1920	2012	Indian	Gandhi, Music and Lyrics, Natural Born Killers, Alice in Wonderland (1966)
Shore, Howard	1946		Canadian	The Lord of the Rings, Silence of the Lambs, Mrs. Doubtfire, Big, The Fly, The Aviator, The Last Mimzy
Silvestri, Alan	1950		American	Beowulf, Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, The Polar Express, Van Helsing, Cast Away, The Avengers, Predator
Steiner, Max	1888	1971	Austrian-American	King Kong (1933), Casablanca, The Caine Mutiny, The Informer, Gone with the Wind, Now Voyager
Stothart, Herbert	1885	1949	American	The Wizard of Oz, The Three Musketeers (1948), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), A Night at the Opera
Tiomkin, Dimitri	1894	1979	Russian	High Noon, It's a Wonderful Life, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, The Unforgiven, Town Without Pity, The Guns of Navarone
Vangelis	1943		Greek	Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Alexander, Antarctica
Waxman, Franz	1906	1967	German-American	Taras Bulba, Rear Window, Suspicion, Rebecca, Bride of Frankenstein, Sunset Boulevard, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
Williams, John	1932		American	Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Schindler's List, Superman, E.T., Catch Me if You Can, Memoirs of a Geisha
Young, Victor	1899	1956	American	Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), The Quiet Man, September Affair, For Whom the Bell Tolls
Zimmer, Hans	1957		German	Inception, Batman Begins, Pirates of the Caribbean, Black Hawk Down, The Lone Ranger (2013), Madagascar, Sherlock Holmes (2009)