---
name: "Gerald Fried"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/gerald-fried"
fi1m_id: "gerald-fried"
imdb_id: "nm0006086"
tmdb_id: 3350
wikidata_id: "Q541907"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "13 February 1928"
died: "17 February 2023"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_fi1m_score: 85
average_over: 4
updated: "2026-09-17T14:56:10.488823+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Gerald Fried

## Identity

Gerald Fried

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/gerald-fried
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** gerald-fried
- **IMDb ID:** nm0006086
- **TMDB ID:** 3350
- **Wikidata ID:** Q541907
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Fried, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q541907, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006086/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/3350

Composer. Born 13 February 1928 in The Bronx. Died 17 February 2023.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 13 February 1928, The Bronx
- **Died:** 17 February 2023
- **Active:** 1957–1977
- **Frequently works with:** [Marvin J. Chomsky](https://film.one/person/marvin-j-chomsky.md), [Edward J. Lakso](https://film.one/person/edward-j-lakso.md), [Herb Wallerstein](https://film.one/person/herb-wallerstein.md), [Herschel Daugherty](https://film.one/person/herschel-daugherty.md), [John D. F. Black](https://film.one/person/john-d-f-black.md), [John Erman](https://film.one/person/john-erman.md), [John T. Dugan](https://film.one/person/john-t-dugan.md), [Joseph Pevney](https://film.one/person/joseph-pevney.md)
- **Primetime Emmy Awards:** 1 Emmy (1 won · 2 nominated)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1950s 93 (1), 1960s 82 (2), 1970s 83 (1)
- **Score spread:** 4 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 4, Action & Adventure 1, Crime 1, Sci-Fi & Fantasy 1, War 1
- **Screen time:** 1 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $1m across 1 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Fried, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q541907, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006086/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/3350

## Streaming the US now

- **MUBI:** [*Paths of Glory*](https://film.one/film/paths-of-glory.md) (93)
- **Paramount+:** [*Star Trek*](https://film.one/tv/star-trek-1966.md) (83)
- **Apple TV:** [*Mission: Impossible*](https://film.one/tv/mission-impossible-1966.md) (82)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Gerald Fried (13 February 1928 – 17 February 2023) was an American composer, conductor and oboist. Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, he attended the High School of Music & Art and the Juilliard School of Music. He began his film career scoring Stanley Kubrick’s early works, including the short *Day of the Fight* (1951) and the features *Fear and Desire* (1953), *Killer’s Kiss* (1955), *The Killing* (1956) and *Paths of Glory* (1957).

Fried later moved to Los Angeles and became a prolific composer for television, contributing scores and themes to series such as *Star Trek* (including the well-known music for the episode “Amok Time”), *Mission: Impossible*, *Gilligan’s Island*, *The Man from U.N.C.L.E.* and *Dynasty*. He received five Primetime Emmy nominations and won once in 1977 for his work on the miniseries *Roots*. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the documentary *Birds Do It, Bees Do It* (1974).

*Sources: variety.com, hollywoodreporter.com, en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (4)

- *Roots* (1977), Fi1m 83, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/tv/roots.md)
- *Mission: Impossible* (1966), Fi1m 82, Music — [page](https://film.one/tv/mission-impossible-1966.md)
- *Star Trek* (1966), Fi1m 83, Music — [page](https://film.one/tv/star-trek-1966.md)
- *Paths of Glory* (1957), Fi1m 93, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/paths-of-glory.md)

## Complete filmography (81)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Unbelievable!!!!!* (2020), Original Music Composer
- *Roots: The Gift* (1988), Original Music Composer
- *Drop-Out Mother* (1988), Music
- *Embassy* (1985), Music
- *The Mystic Warrior* (1984), series, Music
- *Australia's Animal Mysteries* (1984), Original Music Composer
- *A Killer in the Family* (1983), Original Music Composer
- *The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair* (1983), Original Music Composer
- *For Us, the Living: The Story of Medgar Evers* (1983), Music
- *American Playhouse* (1982), series, Original Music Composer
- *Murder Is Easy* (1982), Original Music Composer
- *The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island* (1981), Original Music Composer
- *Dynasty* (1981), series, Music
- *The Wild and the Free* (1980), Original Music Composer
- *The Silent Lovers* (1980), Original Music Composer
- *Flamingo Road* (1980), Music
- *Gauguin the Savage* (1980), Original Music Composer
- *Condominium* (1980), series, Original Music Composer
- *The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd* (1980), Music
- *Disaster on the Coastliner* (1979), Original Music Composer
- *Breaking Up Is Hard to Do* (1979), series, Original Music Composer
- *The Seekers* (1979), series, Original Music Composer
- *Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love* (1979), Original Music Composer
- *The Rebels* (1979), series, Original Music Composer
- *The Castaways on Gilligan's Island* (1979), Original Music Composer
- *The Bell Jar* (1979), Original Music Composer
- *Roots: The Next Generations* (1979), series, Original Music Composer
- *The Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel* (1979), Original Music Composer
- *The Immigrants* (1978), series, Original Music Composer
- *Rescue from Gilligan's Island* (1978), Original Music Composer
- *The Beasts Are on the Streets* (1978), Original Music Composer
- *Maneaters Are Loose!* (1978), Original Music Composer
- *Cruise Into Terror* (1978), Original Music Composer
- *Sex and the Married Woman* (1977), Original Music Composer
- *Testimony of Two Men* (1977), series, Original Music Composer
- *The Spell* (1977), Original Music Composer
- *Roots* (1977), series, Original Music Composer — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/roots.md)
- *Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident* (1976), Original Music Composer
- *Vigilante Force* (1976), Original Music Composer
- *Survive!* (1976), Original Music Composer
- *I Will Fight No More Forever* (1975), Original Music Composer
- *Birds Do It, Bees Do It* (1974), Music
- *The Baby* (1973), Original Music Composer
- *The Grissom Gang* (1971), Original Music Composer
- *Too Late the Hero* (1970), Original Music Composer
- *The Image of the City* (1969), Music
- *What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?* (1969), Original Music Composer
- *Danger Has Two Faces* (1968), Original Music Composer
- *The Killing of Sister George* (1968), Original Music Composer
- *The Karate Killers* (1967), Original Music Composer
- *One of Our Spies Is Missing* (1966), Original Music Composer
- *Mission: Impossible* (1966), series, Conductor, Music — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/mission-impossible-1966.md)
- *Star Trek* (1966), series, Music — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/star-trek-1966.md)
- *One Spy Too Many* (1966), Original Music Composer
- *Deathwatch* (1966), Music, Original Music Composer
- *One Potato, Two Potato* (1964), Original Music Composer
- *The Cabinet of Caligari* (1962), Original Music Composer
- *The Second Time Around* (1961), Original Music Composer
- *Twenty Plus Two* (1961), Original Music Composer
- *A Cold Wind in August* (1961), Original Music Composer
- *High School Big Shot* (1959), Original Music Composer
- *Cast a Long Shadow* (1959), Original Music Composer
- *Timbuktu* (1958), Original Music Composer
- *The Lost Missile* (1958), Original Music Composer
- *Terror in a Texas Town* (1958), Original Music Composer
- *Cry Baby Killer* (1958), Original Music Composer
- *Curse of the Faceless Man* (1958), Original Music Composer
- *I Bury the Living* (1958), Original Music Composer
- *The Return of Dracula* (1958), Original Music Composer
- *Machine-Gun Kelly* (1958), Original Music Composer
- *The Flame Barrier* (1958), Original Music Composer
- *Paths of Glory* (1957), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 93, [page](https://film.one/film/paths-of-glory.md)
- *Dino* (1957), Original Music Composer, Conductor
- *Trooper Hook* (1957), Original Music Composer
- *The Vampire* (1957), Conductor, Original Music Composer
- *Bayou* (1957), Original Music Composer
- *The Killing* (1956), Original Music Composer, Conductor
- *Killer's Kiss* (1955), Conductor, Original Music Composer
- *Fear and Desire* (1953), Original Music Composer
- *Stasera sciopero* (1951), Music
- *Day of the Fight* (1951), Music

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1976: Best Original Dramatic Score (nominated), for *Birds Do It, Bees Do It*

### Primetime Emmy Awards — 1 won, 2 nominated

- 1988: Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Special (nominated), for *Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story*
- 1980: Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (nominated), for *The Silent Lovers*
- 1977: Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) (won), for *Roots*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/gerald-fried