Joel Goldsmith(1957-2012)

One of six children of the legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith, and the oldest son, Joel Goldsmith's own career in film scoring began in 1978, when he collaborated with Richard Band on the score for Rayon laser (1978). Joel Goldsmith next worked as sound mixer for another Band project, Le jour de la fin des temps (1979) before receiving his first solo scoring assignment, Olivia (1983), for cult German director Ulli Lommel. The stylish synthesizer score Goldsmith provided was succeeded by dozens more for film and TV, including L'homme aux deux cerveaux (1983) and Max, le meilleur ami de l'homme (1993). His electronic expertise came in handy when he co-produced father Jerry's first all-electronic score, Runaway - L'évadé du futur (1984), and helped in the same capacity for Jerry's theme from Le grand défi (1986). Joel also scored episodes of the TV series Fire Fighters (1990), for which Jerry wrote the original theme; and Joel composed some 20 minutes of additional music (with credit) for his father's 1996 assignment Star Trek : Premier Contact (1996).

Joel Goldsmith composed his first symphonic score, for Roland Emmerich's Moon 44 (1990), in 1990. Surprisingly, this sweeping score did not lead to more similar assignments; but, in recent years, Joel Goldsmith's profile has been boosted in recent years with assignments such as TV's Vampirella (1996) and the 1997 cult hit Kull le Conquérant (1997), another big, bold symphonic score which helped nab him the assignment La dernière preuve (1998). Most recently, he has been the chief composer for the TV shows Stargate SG-1 (1997) and Stargate: Atlantis (2004). While Joel's style is recognizably similar to his father's (he seems to have a particular love for Jerry's Le Lion et le Vent (1975)), it is recognizably distinct, which observers of the film music scene believe can only continue to ripen.