James Horner, one of the most prolific film composers died in a plane crash yesterday at the age of 61. His credits are too numerous to list here, but he has been a major fixture in genre films for decades. He scored two Star Trek films (II and III), was a frequent collaborator with James Cameron (Aliens, Titanic, Avatar), and scored many of the Don Bluth animated films (An American Tale, The Land Before Time, etc).
Horner was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won twice (both for Titanic, Best Score and Best Song). How influential is he? He was the 35th person added to the IMDB database back in the 90’s and his score for Titanic is the best selling orchestral film soundtrack of all time.
Some of James Horner’s work sampled below.