A PERSONAL REFLECTION ON
BASIL POLEDOURIS
 Basil
Poledouris, the Emmy-winning composer of "Lonesome Dove" and composer
for such films as "Conan the Barbarian," "Free Willy" and "The Blue
Lagoon," died of cancer Wednesday, Nov. 8 2006, in Los Angeles. He was 61. He
is survived by his mother Helen Poledouris; former wife Bobbie
Poledouris of Santa Monica; two daughters, Zoë and Alexis; his brother
John Poledouris; and dear friend Suni Kim of Vashon Island, WA. I am
proud to say that I got to spend some time with Basil in Spain this
summer. He was a charming, talented man who will be missed.
BASIL POLEDOURIS: BIOGRAPHY
Basil
Poledouris was born in Kansas City, Mo., Aug. 21, 1945. He began
studying piano at the age of 9, became part of a folk group in high
school and studied both film and music at USC. He scored a handful of
television projects in the early 1970s, but his feature scores for "Big
Wednesday" and "The Blue Lagoon" - both for former USC colleagues -
catapulted him into larger-scale features.
Best-known for his powerful music for action-adventure films of the
1980s and '90s, Poledouris scored
both of Arnold Schwarzenegger's appearances as the sword-and-sorcery
hero in "Conan the Barbarian" (1982) and "Conan the
Destroyer" (1984).
His orchestral-and-choral scores are today
considered high points in the genre
of music for fantasy films. Poledouris conducted a substantial portion
of the reconstructed "Conan" score at a concert in Ubeda, Spain, in
July.
The
first Conan movie was one of several films the composer scored for
director John Milius. Others included "Big Wednesday" (1978), "Red
Dawn" (1984), "Farewell to the
King" (1989) and "Flight of the
Intruder" (1991). He also enjoyed long professional relationships with
directors Randal Kleiser ("The Blue
Lagoon," 1980; "Summer Lovers," 1982; "White
Fang," 1991; "It's My Party," 1996), Paul
Verhoeven ("Flesh and Blood," 1985;
"Robocop," 1987; "Starship Troopers," 1997); Simon Wincer ("Quigley
Down Under," 1990; "Free Willy,"
1993); and John Waters ("Serial Mom,"
1994; "Cecil B. DeMented," 2000).
Among Poledouris' other popular scores were "The Hunt for Red
October" (1990), "Wind" (1992), and "Les
Miserables" (1998). In stark contrast to his music for
testosterone-driven big-screen
thrillers was his music for two television miniseries: the gentle
Americana of the controversial 14-hour "Amerika" (1987) and the
folk-based Western score for the
eight-hour "Lonesome Dove" (1989), which won the composer an
Emmy.
In 1996, Poledouris was commissioned to write music for the opening of
the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. His six-minute piece, "The
Tradition of the Games," drew on
his study of ancient mythology and Greek
philosophy and was performed by the
Atlanta Symphony and a 300-voice choir. In recent years, Poledouris - an
avid surfer and sailor - moved to Vashon
Island, Wash.
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