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Star Trek Composer Alexander Courage Dies at 88

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By GustavoLeao / 13:53, 28 May 2008 / General Star Trek

According to Film Music Society, Alexander Courage, composer of the original Star Trek theme and an Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated arranger for TV and movies, died May 15 at the Sunrise assisted-living facility in Pacific Palisades, Calif. He was 88.

Courage's fanfare for the Starship Enterprise, written in 1965 for the first of two Star Trek pilots, "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before", was heard throughout the three original seasons of The Original Series and has been reprised in all of the Star Trek feature films, from The Motion Picture to Nemesis, and several of the TV series, especially Star Trek: The Next Generation in the 1980s and '90s.

Courage wrote the original score for the following TOS episodes

 

  • TOS Season 1:
    • "The Cage" (first pilot)
    • "The Man Trap"
    • "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (second pilot)
    • "The Naked Time"
  • TOS Season 3:
    • "The Enterprise Incident"
    • "Plato's Stepchildren"

    More info can be found here.



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    RE: Giacchino Courage | Report this post to moderator
    By: BWilliams (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 08:29:59 on May 29, 2008

    I just found out about Mr. Courage's passing this morning from film and soundtrack restoration producer Mike Matessino, who (along with Lukas Kendall) restored and recently released Courage's complete score to "Superman IV" as part of the eight-disc Superman CD box set. I'm just stunned by the news. It just goes to show how out of the loop I am without a computer at home.

    That makes the second composer this month we've lost - only a few days ago the fellow who composed the classic "whistle" theme to the Andy Griffith Show passed away. Just yesterday I was thinking about a tribute piece to Courage, and on a lark I pulled out my copy of Jeff Bond's book The Music of Star Trek and went straight to the Courage interview. And this morning as I left my house to run a few errands, what CD did I happen to grab but the "Superman IV" CD.

    Courage was definitely a gentleman and a true artist in every sense of the word. He'll be sorely missed.

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    RE: Giacchino Courage | Report this post to moderator
    By: sb2004 (Odo's file, contact) @ 08:10:44 on May 29, 2008

    The loss of Alexander Courage is very sad news. A look at his IMDb listing reveals how much he contributed to film, going all the way back to his work on MGM musicals such as Singing in the Rain. I

    Al

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