Gerald Fried

American composer, conductor, and oboist (1928–2023)

Gerald Fried (February 13, 1928 – February 17, 2023) was an American composer, conductor, and oboist known for his film and television scores. He composed music for well known television series of the 1960s and 1970s, including Mission: Impossible, Gilligan's Island, The Man from U. N. C. L. E., Shotgun Slade, Roots, and Star Trek. Early in his career, he collaborated with Stanley Kubrick, scoring several of his earliest films. Fried was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards, winning once in 1977 for Roots, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the documentary Birds Do It, Bees Do It (1974).

Born and raised in The Bronx, New York City, Fried attended The Juilliard School of Music. He attended High School of Music & Art, graduating in 1945, and entered the world of film soundtracks when he composed the scores for five of Stanley Kubrick's earliest films. After moving to Los Angeles he began composing and arranging music for several films such as Terror in a Texas Town and television shows such as The Man from U. N. C. L. E., working with Robert Drasnin, and also the original Star Trek, for which he composed the famous musical underscore "The Ritual/Ancient Battle/2nd Kroykah" (now known as "Star Trek fight music") for the episode "Amok Time." Among his television show themes is his jazz inspired intro for the western series Shotgun Slade. Fried was known for his collaboration with Quincy Jones on their Emmy Award winning score for the 1977 miniseries Roots. Fried also arranged the exotica album Orienta. He won Golden Pine Award (Lifetime Achievement) at the 2013 International Samobor Film Music Festival, along with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Clint Eastwood. His credits consist of nearly 300 films, television episodes, and specials.

In December 1987, Fried lost his 5 year old son, Zachary, due to AIDS from tainted blood supplied by a blood bank. His screenplay and stage play Morningtime Train was based on the experience. Zachary's childhood drawings were used on T shirts in fundraisers for The Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Fried had four other children, with his first wife Judith Fried: Daniel, Deborah, Jonathan, and Joshua were all born in the 1950s. Fried died of pneumonia in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on February 17, 2023, four days after his 95th birthday.

Hot Rod Rumble (1957) — Director: Leslie H. Martinson — (Musician: Oboe)
To the Moon and Beyond (1964) (composer). "To The Moon and Beyond is the title of a special motion picture produced for and shown at the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair".

Fried's underscore "The Ritual/Ancient Battle/2nd Kroykah", from the Star Trek episode "Amok Time" (1967) was featured in the 1996 movie The Cable Guy, starring Jim Carrey. It was also featured in two Futurama episodes, "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?" (2000), as an alien anthem, in a Star Trek vs. Futurama fight scene "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" (2002), and in the dream sequence at the beginning of "Spock Amok", the fifth episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022). It has also appeared in an episode of The Simpsons "Deep Space Homer" (1994). The score was also specifically chosen in the STS 133 Space Shuttle Discovery mission on March 4, 2011, as the morning wake up music for the crew on Day 9 of the mission.