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IMDbPro

Maurice Jarre(1924-2009)

  • Composer
  • Music Department
  • Soundtrack
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Maurice Jarre
Unlike many musicians who started to learn music while still in their childhood, Maurice Jarre was already late in his teens when he discovered music and decided to make a career in that field. Against his father's will, he enrolled at Conservatoire de Paris where he studied percussions, composition and harmonies. He also met and studied under Joseph Martenot, inventor of the Martenot Waves, an electronic keyboard that prefigured the modern synthesizer.

After leaving the Conservatoire, Jarre played percussion and Martenot Waves for a while at Jean-Louis Barrault's theater. In 1950, another actor-director, Jean Vilar , asked Jarre to score his production of Kleist's 'The Princess of Homburg', the first score Jarre wrote. Shortly after, Vilar created the 'Théâtre National Populaire' and hired Jarre as permanent composer, an association that lasted 12 years.

In 1951, filmmaker Georges Franju asked him to write the music of his 23 minutes documentary Hôtel des Invalides (1952), Jarre's first composition for the movie screen. His first full-length feature, again directed by Georges Franju, was Head Against the Wall (1959) followed by Franju's best known film, Eyes Without a Face (1960).

Jarre's career took a spectacular turn in 1961 when producer Sam Spiegel asked him to work on David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Initially, three composers were supposed to write the score, but for various reasons, Jarre ended up writing all the music himself and won his first Oscar. His second collaboration with David Lean on Doctor Zhivago (1965) earned him another Oscar and obtained a level of success rarely achieved by a film score. He collaborated with Lean again on Ryan's Daughter (1970) and A Passage to India (1984) for which he received a third Academy Award. He was set to score Lean's next movie, 'Nostromo', but the director became ill and died before the film could ever get made.

He also worked for directors as diverse as William Wyler (The Collector (1965)); John Huston (three films); Franco Zeffirelli (Jesus of Nazareth (1977)); Volker Schlöndorff (The Tin Drum (1979) [The Tin Drum] and Circle of Deceit (1981) [Circle of Deceit]); Peter Weir (four films); Michael Apted (Gorillas in the Mist (1988)) and Alfonso Arau (A Walk in the Clouds (1995)).

Mainly perceived as a symphonist and known for his prominent use of percussions, Jarre often integrated ethnic instruments in his orchestrations like cithara on 'Lawrence of Arabia' or fujara (an old Slovak flute) on 'The Tin Drum'. During the eighties, he incorporated synthetic sounds in his music, writing his first entirely electronic score for The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). His son Jean-Michel Jarre is a well-known popular musician.
BornSeptember 13, 1924
DiedMarch 29, 2009(84)
BornSeptember 13, 1924
DiedMarch 29, 2009(84)
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  • Won 3 Oscars

Photos

Omar Sharif and Maurice Jarre

Known for

Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Peter O'Toole, José Ferrer, and Jack Hawkins in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Lawrence of Arabia
8.3
  • Composer
  • 1962
Geraldine Chaplin, Julie Christie, and Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Doctor Zhivago
7.9
  • Composer(music composed by)
  • 1965
Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in Ghost (1990)
Ghost
7.1
  • Composer(music by)
  • 1990
Harrison Ford and Lukas Haas in Witness (1985)
Witness
7.4
  • Composer(music composed by)
  • 1985

Credits

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IMDbPro

Composer

  • Who Killed 'Winter Kills'?
    • (uncredited)
  • Uprising (2001)
    Uprising
  • I Dreamed of Africa (2000)
    I Dreamed of Africa
  • Sunshine (1999)
    Sunshine
  • Alain Delon and Arielle Dombasle in Day and Night (1997)
    Day and Night
  • The Sunchaser (1996)
    The Sunchaser
  • Keanu Reeves and Aitana Sánchez-Gijón in A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
    A Walk in the Clouds
  • Fearless (1993)
    Fearless
  • Richard Gere and Lena Olin in Mr. Jones (1993)
    Mr. Jones
  • Shadow of the Wolf (1992)
    Shadow of the Wolf
  • Brendan Fraser in School Ties (1992)
    School Ties
  • The Setting Sun (1992)
    The Setting Sun
  • Fires Within (1991)
    Fires Within
  • Maureen O'Hara, Ally Sheedy, and John Candy in Only the Lonely (1991)
    Only the Lonely
  • Paul Hogan in Almost an Angel (1990)
    Almost an Angel
    • (music composed by)

Music Department

  • Sommernachtskonzert Schönbrunn (2008)
    Sommernachtskonzert Schönbrunn
  • Gintberg på kanten (2011)
    Gintberg på kanten
  • Three Strange Stories
  • The Fear (El Miedo) (2006)
    The Fear (El Miedo)
  • 'Topaz': An Appreciation by Film Critic/Historian Leonard Maltin (2001)
    'Topaz': An Appreciation by Film Critic/Historian Leonard Maltin
  • The Making of 'Lawrence of Arabia' (2000)
    The Making of 'Lawrence of Arabia'
  • Lawrence of Arabia: A Conversation with Steven Spielberg (2000)
    Lawrence of Arabia: A Conversation with Steven Spielberg
  • I Dreamed of Africa (2000)
    I Dreamed of Africa
    • (uncredited)
  • Sunshine (1999)
    Sunshine
  • The Sunchaser (1996)
    The Sunchaser
  • White Squall (1996)
    White Squall
  • Two Bits (1995)
    Two Bits
    • (uncredited)
  • Keanu Reeves and Aitana Sánchez-Gijón in A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
    A Walk in the Clouds
  • Kevin Bacon, David Strathairn, Meryl Streep, and Joseph Mazzello in The River Wild (1994)
    The River Wild
  • Fearless (1993)
    Fearless

Soundtrack

  • Les 130 ans de la Tour Eiffel, le concert évènement (2019)
    Les 130 ans de la Tour Eiffel, le concert évènement
  • Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Pacino, Quentin Tarantino, Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Damon Herriman, Timothy Olyphant, Harley Quinn Smith, Kansas Bowling, Madisen Beaty, Mike Moh, Josephine Valentina Clark, Sydney Sweeney, Michaela Sprague, Margot Robbie, Kayla Radomski, Ryan Ramirez, Margaret Qualley, and Julia Butters in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
    Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  • Michael Weatherly in The Necklace (2016)
    Bull
  • Bob Odenkirk in Better Call Saul (2015)
    Better Call Saul
    • (uncredited)
  • Sandra Bullock, Helena Bonham Carter, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, and Awkwafina in Ocean's Eight (2018)
    Ocean's Eight
  • Steven Spielberg in Spielberg (2017)
    Spielberg
  • Nicholas Hoult in Sand Castle (2017)
    Sand Castle
  • Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange in Feud (2017)
    Feud
  • Todd Nathanson in One Hit Wonderland (2012)
    One Hit Wonderland
  • Reel Iconic (2015)
    Reel Iconic
  • Kyle Kallgren in Brows Held High (2011)
    Brows Held High
  • Elemental Mass (2013)
    Elemental Mass
  • Nordstrand (2013)
    Nordstrand
  • Alexandra - Stimme der Sehnsucht: Der rätselhafte Tod eines Stars
    • (uncredited)
  • Dancing Stars (2005)
    Dancing Stars

Personal details

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    • September 13, 1924
    • Lyon, Rhône, France
    • March 29, 2009
    • Malibu, California, USA(cancer)
    • December 6, 1984 - March 29, 2009 (his death)
    • Jean-Michel Jarre
    • Kevin Jarre(Stepchild)
  • Other works
    Unused score: Two Bits (1995)
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Article

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    According to his friend David Lean, Jarre settled the matter of his divorce from Dany Saval very simply by making over to her all future royalties from his score for Doctor Zhivago (1965) - which probably made her millions.
    • Composer of many David Lean, Adrian Lyne, Peter Weir films.

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