The Best Composers Ever!

1. Max Steiner

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 ...

18065 points

2. 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 ...

17407 points

3. 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 ...

13923 points

4. 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 ...

13762 points

5. 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...

11694 points

6. 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 ...

11257 points

7. 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 ...

9884 points

8. 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) ...

9631 points

9. Georges Delerue

Composer | Platoon

Georges Delerue was born on March 12, 1925 in Roubaix, Nord, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Platoon (1986), Twins (1988) and The Day of the Dolphin (1973). He was married to Micheline Gautron. He died on March 20, 1992 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

9568 points

10. Philippe Sarde

Composer | Le locataire

Philippe Sarde was born on June 21, 1948 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He is a composer and actor, known for The Tenant (1976), Barocco (1976) and Lord of the Flies (1990). He has been married to Clotilde Burrer since 1994. They have two children. He was previously married to Nave ...

9012 points

11. John Williams

Composer | Jurassic Park

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 ...

8894 points

12. 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, ...

8702 points

13. 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 ...

8660 points

14. 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 ...

8568 points

15. 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 ...

8235 points

16. 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, ...

7848 points

17. Carter Burwell

Composer | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Carter Burwell was born on November 18, 1954 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Carol (2015) and The Banshees of Inisherin (2022). He has been married to Christine Sciulli since 1999.

7529 points

18. 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 ...

7492 points

19. Eduard Artemyev

Composer | 12

Eduard Artemyev is a Soviet and Russian composer. He is widely known as the author of music for films by Andrei Tarkovsky, Andrey Konchalovskiy and Nikita Mikhalkov.

Artemyev was born in Novosibirsk. He received his primary musical education at the Moscow Choir School. Later in 1960 he graduated ...

6751 points

20. Armando Trovajoli

Soundtrack | Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Armando Trovajoli was born on September 2, 1917 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), A Special Day (1977) and Get Smart (2008). He was married to Maria Paola Trovajoli and Pier Angeli. He died on March 1, 2013 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

6687 points

21. James Newton Howard

Music_department | King Kong

James Newton Howard attended the University of Southern California's music school, but dropped out to tour with Elton John, and eventually compose music for film and television. He started with Head Office (1985) in 1985. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards. He currently is a songwriter, ...

6627 points

22. Alberto Iglesias

Composer | La piel que habito

Alberto Iglesias was born in 1955 in Donostia-San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa, País Vasco, Spain. He is a composer and actor, known for The Skin I Live In (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and The Constant Gardener (2005).

6501 points

23. Roy Webb

Composer | Notorious

Trained in classical music at Columbia University, Webb worked on Broadway by the time he was in his mid-20's, not only composing incidental music, but co-writing original plays with his older brother, the director Kenneth S. Webb. By 1923, he worked as conductor/arranger on hit shows like "Music ...

6205 points

24. Herbert Stothart

Music_department | The Wizard of Oz

Of Scottish and German ancestry, Herbert Stothart was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1885. At first, he was slated for a career as a teacher of history. However, he became enamored with music while singing in a school choir, and again, later, while attending the University of Wisconsin. There, he...

6152 points

25. 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 ...

6121 points

26. Friedrich Hollaender

Music_department | Sabrina

Friedrich Hollaender was the son of the composer Victor Hollaender, who composed shows in Berlin in the 1890s to 1910s. Frederick received early musical training, since 1913 he was student of opera composer Engelbert Humperdinck (who composed Hänsel und Gretel). He started as repetitor at a theater...

5962 points

27. 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 ...

5947 points

28. Carlo Rustichelli

Composer | L'uomo di paglia

Carlo Rustichelli was born on December 24, 1916 in Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a composer, known for Man of Straw (1958), L'armata Brancaleone (1966) and The Facts of Murder (1959). He was married to Elvira Zecchino. He died on November 13, 2004 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

5714 points

29. Erik Nordgren

Composer | Smultronstället

Erik Nordgren was born on February 13, 1913 in Malmö, Skåne län, Sweden. He was a composer, known for Wild Strawberries (1957), The Seventh Seal (1957) and The Virgin Spring (1960). He died on March 6, 1992 in Västerhaninge, Haninge, Stockholms län, Sweden.

5657 points

30. Wojciech Kilar

Composer | Bram Stoker's Dracula

Wojciech Kilar was born on July 17, 1932 in Lwów, Lwowskie, Poland [now Lviv, Ukraine]. He was a composer, known for Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), The Ninth Gate (1999) and The Pianist (2002). He was married to Barbara Pomianowska. He died on December 29, 2013 in Katowice, Slaskie, Poland.

5629 points

31. Frank Skinner

Composer | Saboteur

The author of the textbook "F.Skinner's Simplified Method for Modern Arranging" (published 1934) began his musical career as a pianist in vaudeville alongside his brother Carl. He then became a noted arranger for New York dance orchestras in the 1930's and was briefly active in the field of music ...

5511 points

32. 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 ...

5494 points

33. Georges Auric

Composer | Le salaire de la peur

At the least George Auric was a fine musician, having been a child prodigy, but he was much more in the musical world. He studied under Vincent D'Indy (a devotee of Cesar Franck and the German school of symphonic composition) and attended the Paris Conservatory (1920). By the time he was 20 he had ...

5478 points

34. 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 ...

5124 points

35. 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, ...

5093 points

36. Adolph Deutsch

Music_department | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

London-born piano child prodigy Adolph Deutsch trained at the Royal Academy of Music from the age of eight and composed his first piece, a waltz for piano, entitled "La Charmeuse", two years later. He moved to the U.S. in 1910 and got his first job working for a publishing house, during which time ...

5052 points

37. Cyril J. Mockridge

Music_department | Guys and Dolls

Cyril J. Mockridge was born on August 6, 1896 in London, England, UK. He was a composer, known for Guys and Dolls (1955), My Darling Clementine (1946) and Miracle on 34th Street (1947). He was married to Betty J Mockridge. He died on January 18, 1979 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

5039 points

38. Takanobu Saitô

Composer | Tôkyô monogatari

Takanobu Saitô was born on December 8, 1924 in Tokyo, Japan. He was a composer, known for Tokyo Story (1953), The Moon Has Risen (1955) and An Autumn Afternoon (1962). He died on April 11, 2004.

4841 points

39. Heinz Roemheld

Composer | The Lady from Shanghai

Heinz Roemheld was born on May 1, 1901 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He was a composer, known for The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Melinda and Melinda (2004) and A Bronx Tale (1993). He was married to Emeline Defnet. He died on February 11, 1985 in Huntington Beach, California, USA.

4761 points

40. 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, ...

4717 points

41. Alessandro Cicognini

Composer | Ladri di biciclette

Alessandro Cicognini was born on January 15, 1906 in Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy. He was a composer and writer, known for Bicycle Thieves (1948), Forrest Gump (1994) and Umberto D. (1952). He died on November 9, 1995 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

4707 points

42. William Alwyn

Music_department | Back to the Present!

Virtuoso flautist and composer who taught at London's Royal Academy of Music as a professor from 1926 to 1955. During the war years, he was employed by the Ministry of Information, where he came to the fore as a composer of scores for documentary films which were used for morale building, the ...

4510 points

43. Michel Legrand

Composer | The Thomas Crown Affair

Michel Legrand is a three-time Academy Award-winning French composer, conductor and pianist who composed over 200 film and television scores as well as recorded over a hundred albums of jazz, popular and classical music.

He was born on February 24, 1932, in Becon-les-Bruyeres, in the Paris suburbs, ...

4468 points

44. Fumio Hayasaka

Composer | Yoidore tenshi

During his roughly 15-year-long career, Fumio Hayasaka composed scores for some of the biggest names in Japanese cinema and was regarded by many as the finest Japanese film composer alive. Many of his scores were written for no less a cinematic luminary than Akira Kurosawa, including the legendary ...

4430 points

45. Hugo Friedhofer

Composer | The Best Years of Our Lives

Hugo Friedhofer -- how many times have you seen that name in the credits of 1930s and '40s movies for "orchestration" or "musical arranger" and thought -- Gee, what a busy guy! He was, and, ironically, much of that work went uncredited. He is not usually mentioned with the great film composers of ...

4369 points

46. Quincy Jones

Producer | The Color Purple

Considered to be one of the greatest minds in music and television history, Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. was born on March 14, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of Sarah Frances (Wells), a bank executive, and Quincy Delight Jones, Sr., a carpenter.

Jones found his love for music while he was ...

4333 points

47. Mychael Danna

Composer | Life of Pi

Mychael Danna is an Oscar and and Emmy Award-winning film composer recognized for his evocative blending of non-western traditions with orchestral and electronic music. His highly awarded works include the Oscar-winning score for Ang Lee's Life of Pi (2012), and his many Genie Award-winning scores ...

4301 points

48. Piero Piccioni

Soundtrack | The Big Lebowski

Piero Piccioni was born in Turin (Italy) on the 6th December 1921. Son of a pure Turinese mother (her maiden name was Marengo), and from here the pseudonym Piero Morgan, which he adopted until 1957. He had played on the radio with his historic Big Band "013" in 1938, to then return, after the ...

4265 points

49. Bronislau Kaper

Composer | Mutiny on the Bounty

Born: February 5, 1902 in Warsaw, Poland Died: April 25, 1983 in Los Angeles, California, USA Kaper displayed musical talent as early as the age of seven when his family acquired a piano. His inclination to music led him to study both piano and composition, while also taking courses in law to ...

4240 points

50. André Previn

Music_department | My Fair Lady

German-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor André George Previn (born Andreas Ludwig Priwin, in Berlin) was for eight decades a hugely influential and prolific figure in jazz, as well as classical and film music. Being Jewish, Previn's family was forced to leave Hitler's Germany in ...

4132 points

51. 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 ...

4059 points

52. John Leipold

Music_department | Stagecoach

John Leipold was born on February 26, 1888 in Ulster County, New York, USA. He was a composer, known for Stagecoach (1939), Souls at Sea (1937) and The Big Wheel (1949). He was married to Caroline E. Palen. He died on March 8, 1970 in Dallas, Texas, USA.

4056 points

53. Frank De Vol

Soundtrack | Meng long guo jiang

Frank DeVol was born to Herman Frank DeVol and Minnie Emma (Humphreys) DeVol in Moundsville, West Virginia, on September 20, 1911 and grew up in Canton, Ohio. His father had a "pit" orchestra at the local movie house, and his mother had a sewing shop in Canton. His father was also an accountant. ...

3847 points

54. George Fenton

Composer | Groundhog Day

George Fenton was born on October 19, 1949 in Bromley, Kent, England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for Groundhog Day (1993), Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998) and The Bounty Hunter (2010).

3736 points

55. 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 ...

3721 points

56. 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 ...

3713 points

57. Peer Raben

Soundtrack | 2046

Peer Raben was born on July 3, 1940 in Viechtafell, Viechtach, Bavaria, Germany. He was a composer and actor, known for 2046 (2004), Querelle (1982) and Finding Forrester (2000). He died on January 21, 2007 in Mitterfels, Bavaria, Germany.

3652 points

58. Renzo Rossellini

Composer | Roma città aperta

Renzo Rossellini was born on February 2, 1908 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Rome, Open City (1945), Paisan (1946) and I fratelli Karamazoff (1947). He died on May 13, 1982 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

3547 points

59. Werner R. Heymann

Composer | To Be or Not to Be

Werner Richard Heymann was active as a classical composer in Berlin from 1912. By the end of the decade, he also wrote songs for cabaret and served as musical director for Max Reinhardt from 1918 to 1919. In films with Ufa from 1923, he initially worked as assistant to the head of the music ...

3440 points

60. Jerry Fielding

Composer | The Wild Bunch

A three-time Oscar nominee, Jerry Fielding was among the boldest and most experimental of all Hollywood film composers. His music typically utilized advanced compositional procedures, producing dense, often richly dissonant orchestral textures, sometimes flavored with jazz. Fielding's film music ...

3430 points

61. 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.

3405 points

62. Alfred Schnittke

Soundtrack | The Lobster

Born in Engels, an autonomous region for ethnic Germans on the Volga river, Alfred Schnittke trained as a pianist in Vienna, Austria, where his father served as a correspondent for a Soviet newspaper. In 1953, he moved on to the Moscow Conservatory and served on its faculty from 1962 to 1972. ...

3362 points

63. David Raksin

Soundtrack | Captain America: The First Avenger

David Raksin's father Isidore, who both conducted and owned a music store, taught his son to play piano as well as woodwind instruments at an early age. He eventually studied music with Arnold Schönberg, but became by-and-large a self-taught multi-instrumentalist (organ and percussion), as well as ...

3317 points

64. Zbigniew Preisner

Composer | Trois couleurs: Bleu

Born in Poland in 1955, Zbigniew Preisner studied philosophy and history in the university of Cracow. In his twenties he started to study music in a autodidactical way: buying records and learning to write by taking the music in parts. He started to write his own compositions. His style has always ...

3254 points

65. Philip Glass

Soundtrack | The Truman Show

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Glass worked in his father's radio store and discovered music listening to the offbeat Western classical records customers didn't seem to want. He studied the violin and flute, and obtained early admission to the University of Chicago. After graduating in mathematics ...

3215 points

66. Charles Chaplin

Writer | The Great Dictator

Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the ...

3183 points

67. W. Franke Harling

Music_department | Stagecoach

Songwriter ("Beyond the Blue Horizon", "Sing You Sinners"), composer and conductor, educated at the Grace Church Choir School in New York and the London Academy of Music. He was also a music student of Theodore Ysaye. His career included being chief organist at the Church of the Resurrecion in ...

3100 points

68. 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...

3059 points

69. Mikis Theodorakis

Composer | Z

Mikis Theodorakis was born in the Greek island of Chios, in 1925. It was the same year that the other great composer of Greece was born in Xanthi, Manos Hatzidakis. He fought during the 2nd World War, and was captured at the city of Tripoli. He was tortured, but when he was set free, he joined the ...

2978 points

70. 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 '...

2967 points

71. David Buttolph

Music_department | The Three Musketeers

Prolific screen composer, arranger, and conductor, educated at Juillard and the Academie fur Musik in Vienna. He played in night clubs in Vienna and Munich from 1923 to 1926, then was an opera coach in Munich, 1926-1927. In 1927 he conducted for NBC, and then became music director for WGY in ...

2947 points

72. Maurice Jaubert

Soundtrack | Frances Ha

Maurice Jaubert was born on January 3, 1900 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Frances Ha (2012), L'Atalante (1934) and Port of Shadows (1938). He was married to Marthe Poidlouë. He died on June 19, 1940 in Azerailles, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France.

2925 points

73. 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).

2906 points

74. Max Richter

Soundtrack | Arrival

Max Richter was born on March 22, 1966 in Hamelin, Lower Saxony, West Germany. He is a composer and actor, known for Arrival (2016), The Leftovers (2014) and Ad Astra (2019).

2874 points

75. Andrzej Korzynski

Composer | Possession

Andrzej Korzynski was born on March 2, 1940 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. He was a composer and actor, known for Possession (1981), Bird Talk (2019) and Big Shar (1983). He died on April 18, 2022 in Poland.

2873 points

76. Ludovico Einaudi

Soundtrack | Nomadland

Ludovico Einaudi was born on November 23, 1955 in Turin, Italy. He is a composer and actor, known for Nomadland (2020), The Father (2020) and This Is England (2006).

2872 points

77. Giovanni Fusco

Composer | L'avventura

Giovanni Fusco was born on October 10, 1906 in Sant'Agata de' Goti, Campania, Italy. He was a composer and director, known for L'Avventura (1960), Story of a Love Affair (1950) and Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959). He died on May 31, 1968 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

2861 points

78. Francis Lai

Composer | Love Story

Francis Lai was born on April 26, 1932 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Love Story (1970), Stranger Than Fiction (2006) and Kingpin (1996). He was married to Dagmar Puetz. He died on November 7, 2018 in Paris, France.

2852 points

79. Pierre Jansen

Composer | Violette Nozière

Pierre Jansen was born on February 28, 1930 in Roubaix, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Violette (1978), The Good Time Girls (1960) and Blue Panther (1965). He was married to Colette Zerah. He died on August 13, 2015 in Saint-Pierre-Saint-Jean, Rhone-Alpes, ...

2838 points

80. Leigh Harline

Composer | Pinocchio

Academy Award-winning composer (score, Pinocchio (1940), conductor, songwriter ("When You Wish Upon a Star" [Academy award, Best Song, 1940) and arranger Leigh Harine was educated at the University of Utah. He was a music student of J. Spencer Cornwall. He arranged the first transcontinental ...

2828 points

81. 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.

2804 points

82. Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov

Composer | Andrey Rublyov

Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov was born on May 29, 1936 in Voronezh, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia]. He was a composer, known for Andrei Rublev (1966), Ivan's Childhood (1962) and War and Peace (1965). He died on February 4, 2019 in Moscow, Russia.

2785 points

83. Elliot Goldenthal

Music_department | Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Elliot Goldenthal is an Academy Award-winning composer best known for his original music scores for such films as Frida (2002) and Across the Universe (2007), among his other works.

He was born on May 2, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a house-painter, and his mother was a seamstress. ...

2749 points

84. Daniele Amfitheatrof

Soundtrack | Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

A well-respected conductor and composer, who arrived in the US in 1937 and became a citizen in 1944. His education included studies with Wladimir Tscherbachev, Otto Respighi, and Jaroslav Krichka in the Conservatory and Pontifical Academy of Sacred Music of Vatican in Rome. He was assistant ...

2731 points

85. 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 ...

2707 points

86. Krzysztof Komeda

Composer | Rosemary's Baby

Krzysztof Komeda was born on April 27, 1931 in Poznan, Wielkopolskie, Poland. He was a composer and actor, known for Rosemary's Baby (1968), The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) and Knife in the Water (1962). He was married to Zofia von Tittenbrun. He died on April 23, 1969 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, ...

2706 points

87. Johnny Mandel

Music_department | MASH

Inducted into the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame in 2009 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame a year later, Johnny Mandel is perhaps best known as the composer of the iconic M*A*S*H (1972) theme song, "Suicide is Painless". Born and raised in Manhattan, he was the son of a garment manufacturer and an opera ...

2608 points

88. Hans J. Salter

Soundtrack | Happy Death Day 2 U

Hans J. Salter was born on January 14, 1896 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was a composer, known for Happy Death Day 2U (2019), Hubie Halloween (2020) and Detroit Rock City (1999). He was married to Gutzman. He died on July 23, 1994 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

2578 points

89. William Axt

Composer | The Thin Man

Composer and conductor, educated at DeWitt Clinton High School, and in private music study in Berlin. He was the assistant conductor at the Hammerstein Grand Opera Company in New York, and conducted for Emma Trentini between 1914-1918. He was musical director at the Capitol Theatre in New York, and...

2552 points

90. Goran Bregovic

Music_department | The Informer

In the end of '70s and all through the '80s, he was the leader of the most popular Yugoslav band "Bijelo dugme" (from Sarajevo). They published more than 10 LPs, selling altogether more than 15 million copies. He was the first one to introduce "shepperd's rock" (a kind of folk-rock) into popular ...

2529 points

91. Vladimir Cosma

Composer | Diva

Vladimir Cosma was born on April 13, 1940 in Bucharest, Romania. He is a composer and actor, known for Diva (1981), Octav (2017) and Le Bal (1983).

2498 points

92. A.R. Rahman

Composer | Slumdog Millionaire

A two-time winner and five-time nominee of the Academy Award, A. R. Rahman is popularly known as the man who has redefined contemporary Indian music. Rahman, according to a BBC estimate, has sold more than 150 million copies of his work comprising of music from more than 100 film soundtracks and ...

2469 points

93. Cliff Martinez

Composer | Only God Forgives

Cliff Martinez was born on February 5, 1954 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Only God Forgives (2013), The Neon Demon (2016) and Drive (2011).

2400 points

94. Joseph Kosma

Soundtrack | The Score

Joseph Kosma was born in Budapest. He took an interest in music at a very young age, writing an opera called "Noel dans les Tranchées" as a teenager. One of his greatest loves in Budapest was the music of Bela Bartok. Finding the political atmosphere to be more and more oppressive in Budapest, ...

2264 points

95. Sol Kaplan

Soundtrack | Virtuosity

Sol Kaplan was born on April 19, 1919 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Sol was a composer, known for Virtuosity (1995), Coneheads (1993) and Star Trek (1966). Sol was married to Frances Heflin. Sol died on November 14, 1990 in Amagansett, New York, USA.

2242 points

96. George Antheil

Composer | In a Lonely Place

Composer and pianist, educated at the Curtis Music Settlement School. He studied with Constantin von Sternberg, Ernest Bloch and Clark Smith under a Guggenheim Fellowship. In Europe, he gave piano recitals between 1921-1926. He wrote incidental music to the play "Oedipus". Besides his film music, ...

2239 points

97. Jack Nitzsche

Soundtrack | An Officer and a Gentleman

Jack Nitzsche was born on April 22, 1937 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), The Exorcist (1973) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). He was married to Buffy Sainte-Marie and Gracia Ann May. He died on August 25, 2000 in ...

2226 points

98. Arthur Honegger

Composer | Mademoiselle Docteur

Arthur Honegger was born on March 10, 1892 in Le Havre, Seine-Inférieure [now Seine-Maritime], France. He was a composer and writer, known for Street of Shadows (1937), The Kidnapping (1934) and Pygmalion (1938). He was married to Andrée Vaurabourg. He died on November 27, 1955 in Paris, France.

2202 points

99. Leonard Rosenman

Composer | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Leonard Rosenman was born on September 7, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer, known for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Barry Lyndon (1975) and The Lord of the Rings (1978). He was married to Judie Gregg, Lyn Furr, Kay Scott and Adele Bracker. He died on March 4...

2199 points

100. 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 ...

2192 points