Basil Poledouris is not only possessed of formidable musical skills, he's also fluent in the language of movies. No wonder: His classmates at USC -where he majored not only in music, but also in cinema- included John Milius, Randal Kleiser and George Lucas.

Poledouris' music propelled the sweeping and emotional sleeper hit, FREE WILLY. His powerful scores intensified the suspense of John McTiernan's THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER and drove the action in Paul Verhoeven's ROBOCOP. In a comic vein, his music can be heard in HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX and John Water's SERIAL MOM. His long relationship with director Milius has produced diverse music for the cult surfing film BIG WEDNESDAY, the sword-and-sorcery epic CONAN THE BARBARIAN, the Soviet-invasion thriller RED DAWN and the grim jungle saga FAREWELL TO THE KING.

He is as comfortable with the symphony orchestra (as in CONAN and THE BLUE LAGOON) as he is with electronic music (as in NO MAN'S LAND and the recent TV pilot NED BLESSING).

Poledouris' music for the sprawling western LONESOME DOVE was acclaimed by critics for its Americana approach without resorting to Coplandesque cliche. He was honored with an Emmy Award for his score.