Big movie music composers biography

20 January 2024, 18:13 | Updated: 22 January 2024, 10:24

Who are the most prolific movie composers of all time? We explore cinema’s greatest musical voices from the last century.

Star Wars creator George Lucas famously said, “Sound is 50 percent of the movie-going experience.”

So many of the great films of the last century would be incomplete without their iconic music.

Could you imagine seeing that first dinosaur emerge in Jurassic Park, without John Williams’ rich, swelling orchestration? Or The Good, the Bad and the Ugly without the backdrop of Morricone’s signature spaghetti western sound?

Film composers are seeing their work reach increasingly beyond the silver screen and into concert halls, their music played amongst works from the traditionally classical world.

And it’s not hard to see why… let’s explore the very best of cinema’s musical voices.

Read more: The 50 best film scores of all time

1. Joe Hisaishi

   Japan’s