One Academy Award, seventeen additional Academy nominations, nine Golden Globe nominations, five Emmy Awards, two additional Emmy nominations, seven Grammy nominations and more than 175 motion picture scores unquestionably establish Jerry Goldsmith as one of the few composers who has dominated the arena of great motion picture and television music for over forty years.

Studying most of the 1940's with Jakob Gimpel and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Goldsmith steadily worked his way into motion picture scores by composing and conducting for radio and television. Weekly television programs like Climax, Playhouse 90, Hallmark Hall of Fame, Studio One, Twilight Zone, General Electric Theater, Gunsmoke and Dr. Kildare were productions whose successes were aided by Goldsmith's musical touch.

It wasn't until the late fifties that Goldsmith was afforded his first major feature scoring opportunity. The Goldsmith touch turned to popular success with the remarkably gentle and discreet score for Lonely Are the Brave in 1960, followed soon after with the critically acclaimed score for Freud (1962). Goldsmith, having demonstrated the most vital qualities of composing for films—a solid dramatic sense with the perception and imagination to create musical tapestries of more than ambient noise—found his work in great demand. Film classics such as Lilies of the Field (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), A Patch of Blue (1965), and his celebrated musical composition for The Sand Pebbles that same year helped pave the way to his present industry status as "the best."

At this stage of Goldsmith's career he was making musical history composing score after score of increasingly original and perceptive dramatic music. Planet of the Apes (1968) required the ultra-modern orchestral techniques of the avant-garde, while his Patton (1970) score demanded authoritative martial music with impressionistic mysticism.

Catapulting into the seventies on the success of his memorable Patton score, Goldsmith's seemingly endless talents were freshly reflected in the diverse musical demands of Papillon (1973), 1974's unforgettable Chinatown, The Wind and the Lion (1976), Islands in the Stream (1976), and on into the eighties with Poltergeist (1982) and Under Fire (1984). Goldsmith's efforts in the nineties produced three richly diverse scores, all in the first year of the decade: Total Recall, The Russia House and Sleeping With the Enemy, followed in 1992 by the haunting and much-acclaimed score for Basic Instinct. Later came Rudy (1993), First Knight (1995), The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), and more recently, L.A. Confidential (1997) and Mulan (1998). The most esteemed recognition for his musical genius came from his industry peers in 1977 in the form of his tenth Academy nomination. The Omen, whose score by Goldsmith was as rivetingly important as the film's visuals, garnered a happily appreciated Oscar for the movie music master.

Motion picture scores are only part of Goldsmith's musical output. Prestigious television assignments such as the Bell System Family Theatre's The Red Pony won Goldsmith his first Emmy Award, having been previously nominated for Thriller (1960/61) and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1965/66). His first long form television scoring was the six-hour movie, QB VII, for which he received his second Emmy Award. Babe (1975/76) resulted in the third. Then came the monumental score for Masada (1981), Goldsmith's fourth Emmy Award. His fifth Emmy was awarded him in 1995 for his majestic theme for the latest in the Star Trek series, Star Trek: Voyager.

Recordings of Mr. Goldsmith's music (over 200 have been released) were nominated for Grammy Awards: The Man From U.N.C.L.E., QB VII, The Wind and the Lion, Alien, The Omen, and two nominations for Masada. Chinatown, The Wind and the Lion, Alien, and more recently L.A. Confidential were nominated for awards by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Echoing their earlier award in 1974 for Composition and Presentation of Distinguished Filmusic, the Max Steiner Music Society bestowed their Annual Max Steiner Award to Goldsmith again in 1992 for his scores for Lionheart (1986) and Medicine Man (1991). In 1982, Goldsmith received the Max Steiner Memorial Award in recognition of Outstanding Contributions to the Entertainment Industry from the National Film Society, and the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Poltergeist. He also was honored by the Academy of Science Fiction with nominations for Best Music for The Boys from Brazil and Magic (1978), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Poltergeist II (1986), Link (1987) and was presented with the Saturn Award for Gremlins (1984). He was further nominated for the Saturn Award for Total Recall (1990) and Star Trek: First Contact (1997).

In 1987 Yamaha honored Goldsmith for his musical contribution and inspiration to musicians worldwide. That same year he received the first of an annual Richard Kirk Award from BMI, bestowed for outstanding achievement, recognizing his lifelong commitment to film music. In 1990 he was the recipient of the prestigious Golden Score Award from the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers, and later that year received an honorary Doctorate of Music degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston. In 1992, the University of Southern California presented Goldsmith with their annual Alumni Merit Award in recognition of his outstanding achievement in music. In 1993, the Society for the Preservation of Film Music (renamed The Film Music Society) honored Goldsmith with their Annual Career Achievement Award at a gala and well-attended tribute. In 1994, Goldsmith received the Governor's Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In 1995, Goldsmith received the first ever American Music Legend Award from Daily Variety, which was announced in a special tribute issue of the entertainment industry trade paper and later presented to him at a special award dinner. Early in 1998 he was the recipient of the Frederick Loewe Career Achievement Award at the ninth Annual Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, and later in the year Goldsmith received the annual Will Rogers Memorial Award from the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce. Honors in 1999 include a second Governor's Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, a Vision Award from R.P. International for his work on Mulan and an Outstanding Achievement in Music in Film Award from the Hollywood Film Festival.

In 1982, an "appreciation society" now called The Goldsmith Film Music Society was formed in Great Britain by a small number of soundtrack enthusiasts whose aim was to encourage and promote interest in Goldsmith's prodigious output of film music. They now publish a widely distributed journal and their membership has grown considerably to include over 25 countries around the world.

Goldsmith's Music for Orchestra was premiered during the 1971/72 season of the St. Louis Symphony under the direction of Leonard Slatkin. Mr. Slatkin later conducted it with the Minneapolis Orchestra in 1976. In March of 1998, Music for Orchestra was performed by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra on three successive nights.

In August of 1999, Goldsmith conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in two film music concerts at which he premiered his newly commissioned work entitled Fireworks (A Celebration of Los Angeles).

Additionally, Goldsmith was invited to compose an original theme for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Oscar telecast. Goldsmith conducted this historical recording session early in 1998 and the Fanfare for Oscar was debuted during the 1998 Oscar nominations announcement. This new theme will be used for all upcoming Academy Award related events and telecasts.

For the theater, Goldsmith's music has graced three ballets. Othello premiered in 1971 and is now in the permanent repertoire of the National Ballet of Australia; A Patch of Blue was choreographed for the San Francisco Ballet in 1970; and in the spring of 1989 his score for Capricorn One was adapted and presented by BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio.

In 1969 Goldsmith made his debut as a concert conductor with the Southern California Chamber Symphony conducting his own Christus Apollo, a cantata for contralto, narrator, chorus and orchestra with text by author Ray Bradbury. Since then he has guest-conducted, in concerts of his own music and the music of others, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonia Orchestra.

From the 1987/88 season through the 1997/98 season, Goldsmith's concert appearances included conducting the Pittsburgh and Alabama Symphonies and the National Symphony, Washington, D.C; the Indianapolis, Fort Worth, Detroit Symphonies, and the London Symphony Orchestra; the Utah and Syracuse Symphonies; the Toronto, Baltimore and Cincinnati Symphonies in addition to a return appearance with the Utah Symphony; the Milwaukee, Detroit and Colorado Symphonies as well as concerts in Finland, Spain and London. In the 1998/99 season, Goldsmith conducted in Carnegie Hall in New York, followed by engagements in Seville; Tokyo; Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, Scotland with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra; with the London Symphony Orchestra in London; with the Budapest Festival Orchestra; and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the Hollywood Bowl in his native Los Angeles. In the 99/00 season, Goldsmith conducted the Barcelona Symphony, followed by appearances with the New World Symphony in Miami, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Detroit Symphony. The 00/01 season started with a return engagement with the Kanagawa Philharmonic in Tokyo, Yokohama and Yokosuka, Japan, continuing with return engagements with the Barcelona Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestras and ending the season conducting the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra in Monaco.

Goldsmith's more recent works for motion pictures are represented by scores for Hollow Man, Along Came a Spider and Domestic Disturbance.

Goldsmith added yet another dimension to his career when he taught a graduate course in music composition for motion pictures at the University of Southern California School of Music in 1992-93. He was nominated and accepted as a Regents' Professor in the Department of Music at UCLA for the 1998-99 academic year, and is currently a Visiting Professor, teaching a yearly composition class. In 1998 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences became the recipient of the body of Goldsmith's written works which he donated to their Margaret Herrick Library for use by scholars and music researchers.

His Telarc debut, The Film Music of Jerry Goldsmith will be released on SACD at the end of May 2001 with a CD release slated for July 2001.