50 of the Best Film Composers of All Time!

1. John Williams

As one of the best known, awarded, and financially successful composers in US history, John Williams is as easy to recall as John Philip Sousa, Aaron Copland or Leonard Bernstein, illustrating why he is "America's composer" time and again. With a massive list of awards that includes over 52 Oscar ...

Star Wars, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Poseidon Adventure, Dracula

2. John Barry

Soundtrack | Out of Africa

John Barry was born in York, England in 1933, and was the youngest of three children. His father, Jack, owned several local cinemas and by the age of fourteen, Barry was capable of running the projection box on his own - in particular, The Rialto in York. As he was brought up in a cinematic ...

Out of Africa, Dances With Wolves, Somewhere in Time, Goldfinger, Body Heat, King Kong, Born Free

3. Nino Rota

Composer | The Godfather

Born in Milan in 1911 into a family of musicians, Nino Rota was first a student of Orefice and Pizzetti. Then, still a child, he moved to Rome where he completed his studies at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in 1929 with Alfredo Casella. In the meantime, he had become an 'enfant prodige', famous...

The Godfather, The Godfather II, Romeo and Juliet

4. Bernard Herrmann

Composer | North by Northwest

The man behind the low woodwinds that open Citizen Kane (1941), the shrieking violins of Psycho (1960), and the plaintive saxophone of Taxi Driver (1976) was one of the most original and distinctive composers ever to work in film. He started early, winning a composition prize at the age of 13 and ...

Psycho, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Day the Earth Stood Still, Taxi Driver, Cape Fear, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

5. Maurice Jarre

Composer | Lawrence of Arabia

Unlike many musicians who started to learn music while still in their childhood, Maurice Jarre was already late in his teens when he discovered music and decided to make a career in that field. Against his father's will, he enrolled at Conservatoire de Paris where he studied percussions, ...

Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, A Passage to India, Gorillas in the Mist

6. Max Steiner

Composer | Casablanca

Austrian composer Max Steiner achieved legendary status as the creator of hundreds of classic American film scores. He was born Maximilian Raoul Walter Steiner in Vienna, Austria, the son of Marie Mizzi (Hasiba) and Gabor Steiner, an impresario, and the grandson of actor and theater director and ...

Gone With the Wind, Now Voyager, Casablanca, Jezebel, Dark Victory, King Kong, The Caine Mutiny, The Treasure of Sierra Madre

7. Elmer Bernstein

Composer | Far from Heaven

Elmer Bernstein was educated at the Walden School and New York University. He served in the US Army Air Corps in World War II, writing scores for the service radio unit. He also wrote and arranged musical numbers for Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band. A prolific and respected film music composer, ...

To Kill a Mockingbird, The Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Age of Innocence

8. Vangelis

Composer | Blade Runner

Vangelis was a composer and performer who worked almost exclusively with electronic instruments. With Jean-Michel Jarre and Mike Oldfield in the 1970s, Vangelis was a pioneer in the instrumental music and a main influence in the creation of the musical genre "new age," a style related to spiritual,...

Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire

9. James Horner

Music_department | Titanic

James Horner began studying piano at the age of five, and trained at the Royal College of Music in London, England, before moving to California in the 1970s. After receiving a bachelor's degree in music at USC, he would go on to earn his master's degree at UCLA and teach music theory there. He ...

Braveheart, Glory, Titanic, Aliens, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Field of Dreams

10. Ennio Morricone

Composer | The Hateful Eight

A classmate of director Sergio Leone with whom he would form one of the great director/composer partnerships (right up there with Eisenstein & Prokofiev, Hitchcock & Herrmann, Fellini & Rota), Ennio Morricone studied at Rome's Santa Cecilia Conservatory, where he specialized in trumpet. His first ...

The Mission, Cinema Paradiso, The Good, the Bad & the Ugly, Days of Heaven, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Thing

11. Marvin Hamlisch

Composer | The Spy Who Loved Me

Musical talent ran in Marvin Hamlisch's family - his father was an accordionist, and at seven Hamlisch was the youngest student ever accepted by Manhattan's Julliard School of Music. Hamlich furthered his education by taking night classes at Queens College and working during the day as a rehearsal ...

Sophie's Choice, The Way We Were, The Sting, Spy Who Loved Me, Ice Castles, Same Time, Next Year

12. John Carpenter

Writer | The Fog

John Howard Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York, to mother Milton Jean (Carter) and father Howard Ralph Carpenter. His family moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where his father, a professor, was head of the music department at Western Kentucky University. He attended Western Kentucky ...

Halloween, The Fog, Escape From New York

13. Hans Zimmer

Composer | Gladiator

German-born composer Hans Zimmer is recognized as one of Hollywood's most innovative musical talents. He featured in the music video for The Buggles' single "Video Killed the Radio Star", which became a worldwide hit and helped usher in a new era of global entertainment as the first music video to ...

Gladiator, Thelma & Louise, The Lion King, As Good As it Gets, Inception, Interstellar, Crimson Tide, The Ring

14. Lennie Niehaus

Composer | Space Cowboys

Lennie Niehaus was born on June 1, 1929 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was a composer, known for Space Cowboys (2000), The Bridges of Madison County (1995) and Unforgiven (1992). He was married to Patricia Jarvis. He died on May 28, 2020 in Redlands, California, USA.

Unforgiven

15. Dave Grusin

Music_department | The Fabulous Baker Boys

Dave Grusin was born on June 26, 1934 in Littleton, Colorado, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), The Firm (1993) and The Graduate (1967). He was previously married to Edith Ruth Price, Sara Jane Tallman and Barbara Jo Davidson.

Heaven Can Wait, On Golden Pond, Murder By Death, The Graduate, The Goodbye Girl

16. Jerry Goldsmith

Composer | L.A. Confidential

Born on February 10, 1929, Jerry Goldsmith studied piano with Jakob Gimpel and composition, theory, and counterpoint with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He also attended classes in film composition given by Miklós Rózsa at the Univeristy of Southern California. In 1950, he was employed as a clerk ...

The Omen, Planet of the Apes, Chinatown, Alien, Poltergeist, Star Trek the Motion Picture, Papillon, Patton

17. Howard Shore

Music_department | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Howard Shore is a Canadian composer, born in Toronto. He was born in a Jewish family. He started studying music when 8-years-old, and played as a member of bands by the time he was 13-years-old. He was interested in a professional career in music as a teenager. He studied music at the Berklee ...

Howard Shore - Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, The Fly

18. Stanley Myers

Composer | The Witches

Stanley Myers was born on October 6, 1930 in Birmingham, England, UK. He was a composer, known for The Witches (1990), The Deer Hunter (1978) and Prick Up Your Ears (1987). He was married to Brigitta Stroeh and Eleanor Fazan. He died on November 9, 1993 in London, England, UK.

The Deer Hunter

19. Danny Elfman

Music_department | The Nightmare Before Christmas

As Danny Elfman was growing up in the Los Angeles area, he was largely unaware of his talent for composing. It wasn't until the early 1970s that Danny and his older brother Richard Elfman started a musical troupe while in Paris; the group "Mystic Knights of Oingo-Boingo" was created for Richard's ...

Edward Scissorhands, Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Milk, Good Will Hunting

20. Alexandre Desplat

Composer | The King's Speech

Composer and conductor Alexandre Desplat, Oscar winner and seven-time Academy Award nominated, for his prolific filmography and his collaborations with Stephen Frears, Terrence Malick, Ang Lee, Kathryn Bigelow, Jacques Audiard, Wes Anderson, Roman Polanski, George Clooney or Matteo Garrone is one ...

The Painted Veil, The King's Speech, The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Girl with the Pearl Earring, Birth, The Imitation Game, The Danish Girl, Philomena, Argo, The Queen

21. Henry Mancini

Soundtrack | Breakfast at Tiffany's

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, but brought up in Pennsylvania, where he played the flute in a local band, as a youth, before sending some arrangements to Benny Goodman. Goodman offered him a job and, after serving in WWII, he joined the rearranged Glenn Miller band. In 1952, he was given a two-week ...

Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Pink Panther

22. Alfred Newman

Music_department | The King and I

Alfred Newman is an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music.

From his start as a music prodigy, he came to be regarded as a respected figure in the history of film music. He won nine Academy Awards and was nominated 45 times, contributing to the Newmans being the most nominated ...

All About Eve, Wuthering Heights, How the West Was Won, The Song of Bernadette, How Green Was My Valley, Airport, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing

23. Luis Bacalov

Composer | Il postino

Luis Bacalov was born on August 30, 1933 in San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was a composer and writer, known for The Postman (1994), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Django Unchained (2012). He died on November 15, 2017 in Rome, Italy.

Il Postino

24. Franz Waxman

Composer | Sunset Blvd.

Franz Waxman (Wachsmann) pursued his dream of a career in music despite his family's misgivings. He worked for several years as a bank teller and paid for piano, harmony and composition lessons with his salary. He later moved to Berlin, where he continued his study and progress as a musician. He ...

Sunset Boulevard, Rear Window, Suspicion, Rebecca, A Place in the Sun, Philadelphia Story, Bride of Frankenstein

25. Pino Donaggio

Composer | Dressed to Kill

Born in Burano (Venice) in 1941, Pino Donaggio studied violin at the Conservatory of Venice and Milan.

After a period of adolescent performer of classical music with the Solisti Veneti and the Soloists of Milan, in 1959 he began to devote himself to the pop music that soon led to international ...

Carrie, Dressed to Kill

26. Michael Giacchino

Composer | Star Trek

Michael Giacchino is an American composer of music for films, television and video games.

Giacchino composed the scores to the television series Lost, Alias and Fringe, the video game series Medal of Honor and Call of Duty and many films such as The Incredibles (2004), Star Trek (2009), Up (2009), ...

Up, Ratatouille, The Incredibles, Star Trek

27. Nigel Hess

Composer | Hetty Wainthropp Investigates

Nigel Hess was born on July 22, 1953 in Somerset, England, UK. He is a composer, known for Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1996), Ladies in Lavender (2004) and Deceptions (1985).

Ladies of Lavender

28. Michael Small

Composer | Klute

Michael Small was born on May 30, 1939 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer, known for Klute (1971), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) and Marathon Man (1976). He was married to Lynn. He died on November 24, 2003 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

Klute, Marathon Man

29. Lalo Schifrin

Music_department | Rush Hour

Immensely talented, Argentinian born pianist, conductor and composer who has written over 100 scores for both television & the cinema including the memorable themes to Mission: Impossible (1966), Mannix (1967), Starsky and Hutch (1975), Cool Hand Luke (1967), and Bullitt (1968). Schifrin has ...

The Amityville Horror (1979), Cool Hand Luke

30. Clint Mansell

Composer | Black Swan

Clinton Darryl Mansell is an English singer, musician and film composer known for his collaborations with Darren Aronofsky. He composed Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, Black Swan, The Wrestler, Noah, Ghost in the Shell, Peacemaker, Doom Patrol, Loving Vincent, Mass Effect 3, Titans, World ...

Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan

31. Michael Nyman

Composer | The Piano

Michael Nyman studied piano, harpsichord and music history with Alan Bush at the Royal Academy of Music, and musicology with Thurston Dart at King's College, London. Between 1968 and 1978 he worked as a music critic and in 1977 he founded the Campiello Band, later renamed the Michael Nyman Band. ...

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Gattaca, The Piano

32. Miklós Rózsa

Composer | Ben-Hur

A child prodigy, Miklos Rózsa learned to play the violin at the age of five and read music before he was able to read words. In 1926, he began studying at the Leipzig Conservatory where he was considered a brilliant student. He obtained his doctorate in music in 1930. Moving to Paris the following ...

Ben-Hur, Spellbound, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

33. Nicola Piovani

Composer | La vita è bella

Nicola Piovani was born on May 26, 1946 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a composer and actor, known for Life Is Beautiful (1997), The Tiger and the Snow (2005) and The Son's Room (2001).

Life is Beautiful

34. Rachel Portman

Composer | Never Let Me Go

Rachel Portman, Composer

British composer Rachel Portman became the first female composer to win an Academy Award, which she received for the score of Emma. She was also the first female composer to win a Primetime Emmy Award, which she received for the film, Bessie. She has received two further ...

Chocolat, Emma, The Cider House Rules

35. Thomas Newman

Music_department | Skyfall

Thomas Newman is an American film score composer. He was born in Los Angeles. His father was notable film score composer Alfred Newman (1900-1970). The Newman family is of Russian-Jewish descent, and includes several other well-known musicians. Thomas' mother Martha Louis Montgomery (1920-2005) ...

American Beauty, Wall-E, Finding Nemo, Shawshank Redemption

36. Jan A.P. Kaczmarek

Composer | Finding Neverland

Jan A. P. Kaczmarek is a composer with a tremendous international reputation that continues to grow. As a successful recording artist and touring musician, Jan turned to composing film scores as his primary occupation. Jan's first success in the United States came in theater. After composing ...

Finding Neverland

37. Alan Silvestri

Composer | The Polar Express

In his ongoing, decades-long career as a composer, Alan Silvestri has blazed an innovative trail with his exciting and melodic scores, winning the applause of Hollywood and movie audiences the world over. With a credit list of over 100 films Silvestri has composed some of the most recognizable and ...

Contact, Forrest Gump, The Polar Express, Back to the Future

38. Mark Isham

Composer | Crash

From his days as one of the pioneering icons of electronic music to his current status as a world-renowned legendary film composer, Mark Isham continues to be one of the most prolific and provocative artists on the scene. His gift for creating unforgettable melodies and his love of fresh, ...

A River Runs Through It

39. Wendy Carlos

Soundtrack | Ready Player One

Wendy Carlos, one of the great innovators in synthesized and electronic music, was born as Walter Carlos in Rhode Island on November 14, 1939. She underwent a sex-change operation in 1972, details of which she revealed during a surprise Playboy interview in 1979. Walter's last credited release is "...

The Shining, A Clockwork Orange

40. Alex North

Music_department | Spartacus

Alex North studied music at the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia, then won a scholarship to Juilliard in New York (1929) and the Moscow Conservatoire (1933), making him the first-ever American to become a member of the Union of Soviet Composers. In Europe, he worked as music director for the ...

Spartacus, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cleopatra, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

41. Jóhann Jóhannsson

Composer | Last and First Men

Jóhann Jóhannsson was born on September 19, 1969 in Reykjavík, Iceland. He was a composer and writer, known for Last and First Men (2020), The Theory of Everything (2014) and Sicario (2015). He died on February 9, 2018 in Berlin, Germany.

The Theory of Everything, Sicario, Arrival

42. Gustavo Santaolalla

Music_department | Brokeback Mountain

Argentine musician and leader of the now defunct bands "Arco Iris" and "Soluna", Gustavo Santaolalla was one of the references of his country's national music by the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s. During the 70s he relocated to the United States, where he formed the band Wet Picnic, ...

Brokeback Mountain, Babel, The Motorcycle Diaries

43. Giorgio Moroder

Soundtrack | Top Gun

Giorgio Moroder was born on April 26, 1940 in Urtijëi, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy. He is a composer and actor, known for Top Gun (1986), Over the Top (1987) and Flashdance (1983).

Midnight Express, Scarface

44. Dario Marianelli

Composer | Atonement

Dario Marianelli was born in Pisa and studied piano and composition in Florence and London. After a year as a postgraduate composer at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he spent 3 years at the National Film and Television School, from which he graduated in 1997. Dario's film scores include '...

Atonement, Pride & Prejudice, Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre

45. Patrick Doyle

Composer | Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Patrick Doyle is a classically trained composer.

His first film score, the acclaimed adaptation of "Henry V" with Kenneth Branagh for Renaissance films was scored in 1989. He has subsequently worked with Kenneth Branagh, a long time collaborator on numerous pictures including "Dead Again", "Much Ado...

Sense and Sensibility, Much Ado About Nothing, Gosford Park, Brave

46. Alan Menken

Soundtrack | Beauty and the Beast

Alan Menken is an American composer, songwriter, music conductor, director and record producer.

Menken is best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores and songs for The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and ...

Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Pocahontas

47. Ernest Gold

Music_department | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Ernest Gold was born on July 13, 1921 in Vienna, Austria. He was a composer, known for It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), Exodus (1960) and On the Beach (1959). He was married to Jeanette (Jan) Keller, Marni Nixon and Ruth Andree Golbin. He died on March 17, 1999 in Santa Monica, California, USA.

Exodus, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, On the Beach

48. Paul J. Smith

Composer | Pinocchio

Paul J. Smith was the son of Joseph J. and Anna M. Smith of Caldwell, Idaho. Joseph J. Smith was the band director at the College of Idaho for many years and was penned by Idaho's former governor Robert Smylie as "The Father of Music" in the Boise Valley, as he taught all musical instruments.

My ...

Pinocchio, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella

49. Victor Young

Composer | Around the World in Eighty Days

Violinist and conductor Victor Young was a prolific composer and arranger, who worked on more than 300 film scores over a period of twenty years. He came from an impoverished, but musical background and was trained on the violin at the Warsaw Imperial Conservatory, later studying piano in Paris ...

Shane, Around the World in 80 Days, The Quiet Man, For Whom the Bell Tolls

50. Dimitri Tiomkin

Soundtrack | High Noon

Dimitri Tiomkin was a Russian Jewish composer who emigrated to America and became one of the most distinguished and best-loved music writers of Hollywood. He won a hallowed place in the pantheon of the most successful and productive composers in American film history, earning himself four Oscars ...

It's a Wonderful Life, High Noon, Dial M for Murder, Strangers on a Train, Giant