Tom Cruise Death Shock: A-Lister 'Hit for Six' After Iconic And Fiendishly Clever 'Mission: Impossible' Score Maestro Passes Away
Legendary songwriter behind the iconic 'Mission: Impossible' theme tune, Lalo Schifrin, has died aged 93, leaving star Tom Cruise 'devastated.'
June 27 2025, Published 8:34 a.m. ET
The legendary songwriter behind the iconic Mission: Impossible theme tune has died aged 93, leaving Tom Cruise 'devastated'.
RadarOnline.com can reveal Oscar winning Lalo Schifrin passed away due to complications from pneumonia in his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by family.
Award-Laden Maestro
Schifrin won four Grammys and was nominated for six Oscars.
A source said: "Tom was devastated when he heard the news, Schifrin played such a huge role in the global success of the franchise.
"He will ensure the musician is very much cemented into the legacy of the movies."
The Argentine won four Grammys and was nominated for six Oscars, including five for original score for Cool Hand Luke, The Fox, Voyage of the Damned, The Amityville Horror and The Sting II.
He also wrote the grand finale musical performance for the 1990 soccer World Cup in Italy, in which the Three Tenors Plcido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Jos Carreras sang together for the first time.
The work became one of the biggest sellers in the history of classical music.
'The Most Contagious Tune Ever Heard'
Schifrin's 'Mission: Impossible' theme tune became one of the most recognizable in history.
The talented jazz pianist and classical conductor worked alongside fellow legends Dizzy Gillespie and recorded with Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan.
But his biggest contribution to the world of music was the catchy score to TV's Mission: Impossible series, which later became a movie franchise starring Hollywood action star Tom Cruise.
Written in the unusual 5/4 time signature, the theme "Dum-dum DUM DUM dum-dum DUM DUM" was matched with a self-destruct clock on screen that started the popular TV show — running from 1966 to 1973.
It was described as "only the most contagious tune ever heard by mortal ears" by New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane.
The tune also hit No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968.
Schifrin had originally written a different piece for the theme tune – but series creator Bruce Geller liked another arrangement Schifrin had composed for an action sequence.
The legend said about the theme tune: "The producer called me and told me, 'You're going to have to write something exciting, almost like a logo, something that will be a signature, and its going to start with a fuse.'
"So I did it and there was nothing on the screen.
"And maybe the fact that I was so free and I had no images to catch, maybe that's why this thing has become so successful because I wrote something that came from inside me."
Grammys Domination
'Mission: Impossible' won Grammys for best instrumental theme and best original score from a motion picture or a TV show.
Mission: Impossible won Grammys for best instrumental theme and best original score from a motion picture or a TV show.
In 2017, the theme was entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Behind the theme tune, there is even a secret message.
Co-stars in the Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One movie, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson didn't even realise there's more to the well-known theme song than just a catchy tune.
The pair were appearing on Irish radio station Today FM when one of the hosts of the Dermot & Dave Show revealed all.
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Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson didn't realise there was more to the well-known theme song than just a catchy tune.
Dave said to the actors: "Can I give you my Mission Impossible fact? And maybe you know this.
"So, Lalo Schifrin, when he wrote the music for the original TV show, the famous ding, ding, ding, ding.
"It's two long notes and two short notes and that’s the Morse Code for M.and the Morse Code for I – MI, Mission Impossible – two long notes, two short notes."
Both actors were amazed by this, with Pegg saying: "Dave, that's a fact I'm going to tell everyone."
Then Rebecca chips in, adding: "I'm going to use that."
Schifrin is survived by his sons, Ryan and William, daughter, Frances, and wife, Donna.
