Latest news with #TheSimpsons
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The Simpsons contributor dies at age 84 after suffering from rare illness as tributes pour in
Alf Clausen, the Emmy-winning composer whose music provided essential accompaniment for the animated antics of The Simpsons for 27 years, has died. His daughter Kaarin Clausen told The Associated Press that Alf Clausen died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles after struggling with Parkinson's Disease for about a decade. He was 84. Clausen, who also scored TV series including Moonlighting and Alf ('no relation,' he used to joke) was nominated for 30 Emmy Awards, 21 of them for The Simpsons, winning twice. Al Jean, an early Simpsons writer who was one of the key creative figures on the show in the 1990s, said in a post on X Friday that 'Clausen was an incredibly talented man who did so much for The Simpsons.' While Danny Elfman wrote the show's theme song, Clausen joined the Fox animated series created by Matt Groening in 1990 and provided essentially all of its music until 2017, composing nearly 600 scores and conducting the 35-piece orchestra that played it in the studio. His colleagues said his music was a key component of the show's comedy, but Clausen believed the best way to back up the gags of Homer, Marge Bart and Lisa was by making the music as straight as possible. 'This is a dream job for a composer,' Clausen told Variety, which first reported his death, in 1998. 'Matt Groening said to me very early on, `We´re not a cartoon. We´re a drama where the characters are drawn. I want you to score it like a drama.´ I score the emotions of the characters as opposed to specific action hits on the screen.' Groening, in a 1996 interview, called him 'one of the unacknowledged treasures of the show.' Clausen was born in Minneapolis and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 1966, and moved to Los Angeles seeking a career in music. In the 1970s he was a musical director on several TV variety shows including 'Donny & Marie.' Clausen worked as an orchestrator for composer Lee Holdridge in his scores for 1980s films including 'Splash' and 'The Beastmaster.' It was Holdridge who first got the composing job on 'Moonlighting,' the late-80s ABC rom-com detective series starring Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd, but he handed the gig off to Clausen, who would get six Emmy nominations for his music on it. Clausen won his Emmys for 'The Simpsons' in 1997 and 1998 and also won five Annie Awards, which honor work in animation in film and television. He was fired from 'The Simpsons' in a cost-cutting move in 2017, to the outrage of his collaborators and fans. He sued over his dismissal. Clausen is survived by his wife Sally, children Kaarin, Scott and Kyle, stepchildren Josh and Emily, and 11 grandchildren.
Scottish Sun
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Emmy-winning The Simpsons icon dies aged 84 after battle with rare illness as tributes flood in
He was nominated for a total of 30 Emmys throughout his career UNSUNG HERO Emmy-winning The Simpsons icon dies aged 84 after battle with rare illness as tributes flood in Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) AN ICON who worked on the beloved animated comedy series, The Simpsons, for 27 years has died. Veteran composer, Alf Clausen, who scored for the hit show, has died at the age of 84 following an illness. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 4 Alf Clausen died at his home last week following an illness Credit: Getty 4 Clausen worked on the hit show for 27 years Credit: Getty The Emmy winner died on Thursday, May 29 at his Valley Village home in Los Angeles. Clausen was diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy eight years ago. He joined The Simpsons from the second series in 1990 and continued working on the show until its 28th season in 2017. He was behind some of the shows iconic songs and, along with lyricist Ken Keeler, won an Emmy award 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). Clausen's first break as a TV composer came in 1985 on the ABC show, Moonlighting, starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd. He also started composing on ALF, the 80s sitcom, during this period where he provided the theme song and scored over 100 episodes. But when offered the opportunity to work on The Simpsons he was initially reluctant to work on the show, preferring to work on films. But Matt Groening, series creator of The Simpsons, convinced Clausen that he was perfect for the role. He was nominated for another 21 Emmys for his work on the programme in addition to the two he won in the 1990s. He was nominated for a total of 30 throughout his career. While Clausen did not compose the main theme music for The Simpsons, his music often used that composition and he also rearranged and re-recorded the theme throughout his time on the show. In August 2019, Clausen filed a lawsuit against both Disney and Fox following his dismissal from the animated series. He alleged his dismissal owed to his age and medical conditions but Disney lawyers managed to get this aspect of the case dismissed in 2020. Clausen continued with other elements of his claim including wrongful discharge and retaliation. He resolved the matter after reaching a settlement with Fox in February 2022. 4 Clausen was nominated for a total of 30 Emmys throughout his career Credit: Getty
The Sun
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Emmy-winning The Simpsons icon dies aged 84 after battle with rare illness as tributes flood in
AN ICON who worked on a beloved animated comedy series, The Simpsons, for 27 years has died. Veteran composer Alf Clausen, who scored for the hit show, has died at the age of 84 following an illness. 2 2 The Emmy winner died on Thursday, May 29 at his Valley Village home in Los Angeles. Clausen was diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy eight years ago. He joined The Simpsons from the second series in 1990 and continued working on the show until its 28th season in 2017. He was behind some of the shows iconic songs and, along with lyricist Ken Keeler, won an Emmy award in 1997 and 1997 for the songs We Put the Spring in Springfield and You're Checkin' In (A Musical Tribute to the Betty Ford Center). Clausen's first break as a TV composer came in 1985 on the show Moonlighting starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd. He also started composing on ALF, the 80s sitcom, during this period. But when offered the opportunity to work on The Simpsons he was initially reluctant to work on the show, preferring film. He was nominated for another 21 Emmys for his work on the programme. He was nominated for a total of 30 throughout his career. While Clausen did not compose the main theme music for The Simpsons, his music often used that composition and he also rearranged and re-recorded the theme throughout his time on the show. In August 2019, Clausen filed a lawsuit against both Disney and Fox following his dismissal from the show. He alleged his dismissal owed to his age and medical conditions but Disney lawyers managed to get this aspect of the case dismissed in 2020. Clausen continued with other elements of his claim including wrongful discharge and retaliation. He resolved the matter after reaching a settlement with Fox in February 2022.
Boston Globe
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Big business beat out independent films. All we have left is an indie vibe.
On the face of it, the idea that Marvel could make something 'indie' seems ludicrous. Independent films refer to those made outside the Hollywood studio system. Disney, owner of everything from Toy Story to Luke Skywalker to The Simpsons, is the system. But maybe it's not so simple. By using the term indie, both A24 and Disney not only appeal to the celluloid-worshiping film bros of today, but are feeding off the nostalgia from a different age in American cinema: When Stranger Than Paradise using leftover black-and-white film stock from another movie, or when Robert Rodriguez El Mariachi in the early '90s. Advertisement 'Independent filmmakers,' Quentin Tarantino once said, 'spend all the money they have to make the movie. Money they don't have. ... The movie can be as good as it's gonna be, or as bad as it's gonna be, but it's theirs.' Faced with no stars and no budget for the kind of spectacles produced by Hollywood, the indie filmmakers of yesteryear focused on telling riskier and more personal stories. Often in art, outsider status evolves into signatures that connect with an audience. But the truth is, we don't really take no-budget films like Stranger Than Paradise and put them on the big screen anymore. That world no longer exists. A24, with a sequence of interesting and genre-defying winners such as Everything Everywhere All At Once, has become the heir of that certain kind of auteur-driven filmmaking, giving space to younger directors such as Hereditary 's Ari Aster to take risks. But A24 itself was If you want to see a true indie, someone creating what they want with a camera and no money, just pull up any person making day-in-the-life videos for TikTok or YouTube. The latter, of course, is owned by Google, which is now worth $2.1 trillion. All are huge corporations. A filmmaker working today has to pick their poison. Advertisement Indeed, audiences have been rushing to . But for him to get here, Coogler made his indie debut, Fruitvale Station, Black Panther films for Marvel (which grossed more than $2 billion) and the Rocky spinoff Creed. It took Coogler more than 10 years of proving his bankability to tell an original, big-budget story not connected to a franchise. When Disney does work with directors outside the system, it doesn't know what to do with them. They are often reduced to making generic work for hire; think Barry Jenkins going from a James Baldwin adaptation to The Lion King prequel Mufasa: The Lion King, or Chloé Zhao, from the tender Nomadland to Harry Styles cameos in The Eternals. The fantastic Argentine director Lucrecia Martel was approached about directing Marvel's Black Widow, only to find the studio was seeking another woman to direct the movie's star. 'Don't worry about the action scenes, we will take care of that,' Martel, later recalled studio representatives telling her. 'I was thinking, Well I would love to meet Scarlett Johansson but also I would love to make the action sequences. ' Lost amid debate of what's indie and what isn't are the filmmakers themselves. For those who are still independent, life is harder than ever. Brady Corbet spent seven years raising the $10 million needed to make The Brutalist. Only after the hard work was done was the film picked up by A24. Corbet says he Advertisement The eventual winner of Best Director this year, Sean Baker for Anora, has talked about how he can only make his films because he does not have children or expect to own a home. So why does he do it? 'Some of us want to make personal films that are intended for theatrical release with subject matter that would never be greenlit by the big studios,' There, at last, is an honest definition of 'indie.' Kabir Chibber, a writer and filmmaker who lives in New York, was a 2019 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Send comments to magazine@
Boston Globe
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Alf Clausen, Emmy-winning composer who wrote music for ‘The Simpsons' for 27 years, dies at 84
Al Jean, an early 'Simpsons' writer who was one of the key creative figures on the show in the 1990s, said in a post on X Friday that 'Clausen was an incredibly talented man who did so much for The Simpsons.' While Danny Elfman wrote the show's theme song, Mr. Clausen joined the Fox animated series created by Matt Groening in 1990 and provided essentially all of its music until 2017, composing nearly 600 scores and conducting the 35-piece orchestra that played it in the studio. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up His colleagues said his music was a key component of the show's comedy, but Mr. Clausen believed the best way to back up the gags of Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa was by making the music as straight as possible. Advertisement 'This is a dream job for a composer,' Mr. Clausen told Variety, which first reported his death, in 1998. 'Matt Groening said to me very early on, 'We're not a cartoon. We're a drama where the characters are drawn. I want you to score it like a drama.' I score the emotions of the characters as opposed to specific action hits on the screen.' Advertisement Groening, in a 1996 interview, called him 'one of the unacknowledged treasures of the show.' Mr. Clausen was born in Minneapolis and raised in Jamestown, N.D. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 1966 and moved to Los Angeles seeking a career in music. In the 1970s he was a musical director on several TV variety shows including 'Donny & Marie.' Mr. Clausen worked as an orchestrator for composer Lee Holdridge in his scores for 1980s films including 'Splash' and 'The Beastmaster.' It was Holdridge who first got the composing job on 'Moonlighting,' the late-80s ABC rom-com detective series starring Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd, but he handed the gig off to Mr. Clausen, who would get six Emmy nominations for his music on it. Mr. Clausen won his Emmys for 'The Simpsons' in 1997 and 1998 and also won five Annie Awards, which honor work in animation in film and television. He was fired from 'The Simpsons' in a cost-cutting move in 2017, to the outrage of his collaborators and fans. He sued over his dismissal. In addition to his daughter, Mr. Clausen leaves his wife, Sally, two other children Scott and Kyle, stepchildren Josh and Emily, and 11 grandchildren.
