Alf Clausen, who composed The Simpsons for almost three decades, has died, aged 84.
The news was announced by Clausen’s daughter Kaarin, who said he died on Thursday (29 May) after suffering from Parkinson’s Disease for almost 10 years.
Clausen bagged 30 Emmys for his work as a composer throughout his life, and worked on Moonlighting and Alf before moving to The Simpsons, which launched in 1999.
Al Jean, who is one of The Simpsons’s longest-serving writers, paid tribute to Clausen, writing on X/Twitter: “Clausen was an incredibly talented man who did so much for The Simpsons.”
While it was Danny Elfman who created the animated series’s iconic theme song, Clausen was enlisted by creator Matt Groening to compose the music featured in every episode until 2017.
To pull off the score that’s become so synonymous with the show, and enhances the hilarity of actions performed by characters including Homer, Marge and Bart, Clausen would conduct a 35-piece orchestra.
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 was by making the music as straight as possible.
Groening previously called Clausen “one of the unacknowledged treasures of the show.”
“This is a dream job for a composer,” Clausen once told Variety 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.”
He was dropped from The Simpsons in 2017 after 27 years, reportedly over budget cuts – news of which led to outcry from the show’s dedicated fanbase. Clausen launched legal proceedings against the decision.
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-Eighties 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 he also won five Annie Awards, which honour work in animation in film and television.
He is survived by his wife Sally, children Kaarin, Scott and Kyle, stepchildren Josh and Emily, and 11 grandchildren.
Additional reporting by Agencies
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