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Fred Steiner (24 February 192323 June 2011; age 88) worked as a composer on Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He is the composer who contributed more than any other with original scores for Star Trek: The Original Series.

Steiner was born in New York City. He received a degree in music composition from the Oberlin Conservatory at Oberlin College in Ohio. His professional composing career began when he composed scoring and theme music for programs such as the CBS Radio Workshop, Suspense, and This is Your FBI in the 1940s and 1950s.

Besides his work on Star Trek, Steiner also composed for other television series including Lost in Space, Gunsmoke, Have Gun – Will Travel, Hogan's Heroes, and The Twilight Zone.

One of his best known compositions, aside from his Star Trek scores, was the theme song for the Perry Mason TV series. Steiner's Park Avenue Beat was used as the title song for the popular courtroom drama for its entire nine year run.

As a film composer, Steiner received an Oscar nomination for his work on the 1985 film, The Color Purple, which starred Whoopi Goldberg and featured Leon Rippy.

Fred Steiner was the son of George Steiner, who was also a composer, primarily of musical numbers in cartoon shorts of the 1930s. Fred Steiner's daughter is the folk/rock singer-songwriter Wendy Waldman. Steiner passed away on June 23, 2011 after suffering a stroke. He was 88 years old. [1]

Star Trek credits[]

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