ScoreKeeper here with news of a painful loss in the film and television music community.

Earle Hagen was one of the titans of television scoring from the early 1950’s through the 1970’s. His work can be heard in many classic television series including THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW (1961-1966), THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW (1960-1968), THE MOD SQUAD (1968-1972), GOMER PYLE, USMC (1964), and I SPY (1965-1968). Aside from his composing work, the highly sought after Hagen orchestrated and arranged music for a variety of films including MY BLUE HEAVEN (1950), GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953) and CAROUSEL (1956).

He was a nominated for an Emmy Award multiple times and in 1968, won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Composition for his work on I SPY (1965). He was also nominated for an Oscar for his collaborative work with Lionel Newman on LET’S MAKE LOVE (1960).

When speaking of great composers one might quip, “He wrote the book on scoring.” In Earle Hagen’s case he really did write the book on scoring! Long before the academic study of film music became popular, Hagen penned two of the first books written on the technical and aesthetic study of film scoring.

SCORING FOR FILMS (1971) and ADVANCED TECHNIQUES IN FILM SCORING (1990) will forever remain two staples in my library.

He was a pioneer in opening up the cryptic world of film scoring to future generations of new composers and film music enthusiasts helping catalyze the exploding popularity of the medium to this day. You can read more about Mr. Hagen HERE.

Thank you, Mr. Hagen for your incredible mentorship and devotion to your craft.

On behalf of Ain’t It Cool News, I send our condolences to the Earle Hagen family. He will be missed.