Gerald Fried, a composer for some of television’s biggest moments in the 1960s, died Friday at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Bridgeport, CT of pneumonia at age 95.
Fried won an Emmy for the miniseries Roots, rescuing the project when Quincy Jones missed several deadlines.
His career included scoring five early Stanley Kubrick films, including “Paths of Glory” and “The Killing” and received the only Oscar nomination ever given for a documentary score, 1975’s “Birds Do It, Bees Do It.” Fried earned five other Emmy nominations during his long career.
Fried was a go-to composer in his time. His resume includes providing music for episodes of Star Trek, Gilligan’s Island, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Ben Casey, Mission: Impossible, Lost in Space, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Mannix, Police Woman and “Dynasty.
He also composed the themes to the 1950s western Shotgun Slade, the sitcom It’s About Time, and the nighttime soap, Flamingo Road.
Survivors include his wife, Anita; four children, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.