Biography
Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born 1932) is an Argentine pianist, composer, orchestrator and conductor best known for his music for films and television series,.
Schifrin was born in Buenos Aires on June 21, 1932. His father was a violinist in an orchestra, he took care of his son's musical education from an early stage. At the age of six, Schifrinbegan taking piano lessons and later studied harmony. Although he studied sociology and law at the University of Buenos Aires, it was music that won him over. At the age of 20, he successfully applied for a scholarship to the Paris Conservatory. In the capital of France, in parallel with his studies, he played jazz in the clubs of Paris. In 1955 he represented his country at the International Jazz Festival in Paris.
Returning to Argentina, he formed a jazz band and began writing music. In 1963, he recorded the album, Buenos Aires Blues, and in the same year Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer offered the composer his first job, to write music for the Rhino adventure. Sifrin moved to Los Angeles and began writing music for movies with great success. Became a permanent resident of the United States, naturalized American citizen in 1969.
His best-known compositions are for the films "Mission: Impossible", Cool Hand Luke (1967), Bullitt (1968), THX 1138 (1971), Enter the Dragon (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), Voyage of the Damned (1976), The Amityville Horror (1979), Rush Hour (1998-2007).
He is a five-time Grammy Award winner and has been nominated for six Academy Awards and four Emmy Awards. In 2019, he received an Honorary Oscar in recognition of his unique musical style.