---
name: "Ian Freebairn-Smith"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/ian-freebairn-smith"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "4 March 1932"
died: "7 October 2025"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T20:21:00.988750+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."
---

# Ian Freebairn-Smith

Composer. Born 4 March 1932 in Seattle, Washington, USA. Died 7 October 2025.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 4 March 1932, Seattle, Washington, USA
- **Died:** 7 October 2025

## Biography

Ian Freebairn-Smith (4 March 1932 – 7 October 2025) was an American composer, arranger, conductor and singer working in film and television. Born in Seattle, he moved to California as a child and studied composition at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, the University of Pennsylvania and UCLA, later taking film scoring classes with Leith Stevens.

He began his career as a session singer and arranger, contributing vocals to the themes of television series including *Batman*, *Flipper* and *Gilligan's Island*. His composing and arranging credits include the films *The Strawberry Statement* (1970) and *The Muppet Movie* (1979), for which he served as music arranger and conductor, as well as the television series *Cagney & Lacey* (1982), *Fame* (1982) and *Airwolf* (1984). In 1977 he won a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist for Barbra Streisand's recording of "Evergreen" from *A Star Is Born*.

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

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Cagney & Lacey* (1982), Fi1m 81, Music — [page](https://film.one/tv/cagney-and-lacey.md)

## Also known for

- *The Muppet Movie* (1979), Music Arranger, Conductor
- *Fame* (1982), Music
- *The Strawberry Statement* (1970), Original Music Composer

---
© 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/ian-freebairn-smith