
Although of Greek descent, Basil Poledouris (originally Basilis Konstantine Poledouris) was born and brought up in the US. Nevertheless he seems to have picked up some musical qualities from his Greek heritage including powerful melodies with a strong rhythmic drive. He started learning the piano as a boy of age 9 and joined a folk group while at High School. He later studied both film and music at the University of Southern California, the latter under David Raksin. It was also as a student that he met aspiring film maker John Milius, and it was with Milius that Poledouris achieved his initial breaks into the film music business with "Big Wednesday" and "Conan the Barbarian".

The music of Basil Poledouris is traditional in approach, and Poledouris has mentioned Miklos Rozsa as one of his influences. Following on from "Conan the Barbarian" which got him widely noticed, he found a niche within the worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy, where at times he partnered with director Paul Verhoven. The music for example gets into the tongue in cheek spirit of Robocop when the robotic hero spins his gun before holstering it like a gunfighter from the Wild West. He also created authentic Western music for the TV mini-series "Lonesome Dove". In addition to his fantasy output, Poledouris has produced successful scores for other more conventional movies too, such as The Hunt for Red October, where the bold repeated rhythms and dramatic chord progressions give the movie a strong suggestion of Russian character traits and music traditions. He composed a large-scale choral piece called "The Tradition of the Games" for the Opening of the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, and has won critical acclaim for his music to the television series "Lonesome Dove".
Zoe Poledouris, one of the daughters of Basil, has also contributed to his film scores. A theme used in "Conan the Barbarian" is based on something she played on the recorder, and she also a song for "Starship Troopers". Poledouris lives in California and often relaxes there sailing his yacht or surfing with family and friends.
Sadly Poledouris lost his battle with cancer on 8th November 2006.
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