4 days ago
Emmy-award winning The Simpsons composer dies aged 84 after long battle with a rare neurological illness
Legendary composer Alf Clausen best known for his 27-year stint on The Simpsons has died at the age of 84 after a long battle with a rare illness.
The film composer passed away on Thursday at his Valley Village home in Los Angeles, his daughter Kaarin told The Hollywood Reporter.
Clausen is survived by his wife Sally, children Kaarin, Scott and Kyle, stepchildren Josh and Emily, and 11 grandchildren.
Karin revealed her father had been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) around eight years ago when he was in his mid-seventies.
PSP is a rare, progressive neurological condition that affects movement, balance, vision, speech, and swallowing. There is currently no cure.
Clausen, whose score credits include TV series Moonlighting and film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, scored many of The Simpsons' iconic melodies after joining the show in 1990 for its second season.
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In all, the musician garnered 23 Emmy nods for his work on The Simpsons, taking home the trophy in 1997 and 1998.
Clausen took home the gong with lyricist Ken Keeler in 1997 and 1998 for the songs We Put The Spring In Springfield and You're Checkin' In (A Musical Tribute to the Betty Ford Center).
He also received seven Emmy nods for his work on other projects.
Variety reported that Clausen used a 35-piece orchestra each week and the costs for the original music ran into millions of dollars a year.
In addition to his work on The Simpsons, the composer has also worked on such fiums and TV shows as Moonlighting, The Naked Gun and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
He worked on the beloved cartoon right up until its 27th season in 2017 - when his relationship with bosses soured and he was dismissed from the role.
Clausen's relationship with the show didn't remain a rosy one, as he filed a lawsuit in 2019 alleging he was fired from the series because of his age and a perceived disability.
But in court documents filed by Fox and Simpsons executives, and seen by The Hollywood Reporter in 2020, producers said Clausen was let go because he was unofficially delegating his work to others, including his son.
revealed that Fox's defence argued that the media company's decision is protected under its First Amendment rights.
Fox was seeking to have Clausen's suit dismissed under California's SLAPP statute which permits media companies to make staffing decisions based on protected free speech.
Attorneys for Fox also argued that Clausen was unlikely to prevail in his complaint because he was an independent contractor and not an employee.
According to the situation came to a head in November 2016 when work had begun on an episode of the animated series titled The Great Phatsby, a hip-hop spoof of F. Scott Fitzgerald's celebrated novel The Great Gatsby.
Simpsons producer James L. Brooks 'questioned whether Clausen was the right person to prepare rap music and questioned his work more generally', Simpsons producer Richard Sakei says in a statement filed with the court.
Sakei went on: 'Around that time, I learned that Clausen had been delegating some of the work of composing music for The Simpsons to others, including his son Scott Clausen.'
Sakei says he thought this unauthorised delegation of work by Clausen was 'unacceptable' and notified Simpsons showrunner Al Jean about it.
Following a meeting between Sakei, Jean, Brooks and showrunner Mat Selman, Sakai states: 'We decided that we could improve the music on the show by replacing him.'
The matter was resolved in February 2022 after Clausen reached a settlement with Fox.
