Europe News

Maurice Jarre, composer of Doctor Zhivago score, dies at 84

Mar 30, 2009, 6:14 GMT

   Paris - French composer and three-time Oscar winner Maurice Jarre died at 84 after a battle with cancer, French media reported Monday.

   Jarre died Sunday in Los Angeles, the reports said, citing Jarre's management.

   The Lyon-born composer considered a pioneer of modern film scoring wrote the music for more than 150 films and was nominated nine times for Academy Awards, winning three for 1962's Lawrence of Arabia, 1965's Doctor Zhivago and 1984's A Passage to India.

   He worked with some of the world's greatest directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, David Lean, John Frankenheimer and Luchino Visconti.

   A month before his death, he was awarded a lifetime achievement award at the Berlin International Film Festival, which he accepted in one of his final public appearances.

   He had lived in the United States since the 1960s.