Music composer Dominic Frontiere dies at 86

Emmy-winning music composer Dominic Frontiere, known for producing themes for shows such as "The Outer Limits" and "The Flying Nun", passed away at the age of 86.
He died on December 21 in Tesuque, New Mexico, according to Variety.
Frontiere's career spanned from 1960s to 1980s in both TV and films. He composed hundreds of hours of music, mostly for the small screen but also for films such as "Hang 'Em High", "Cancel My Reservation", "Hammersmith Is Out", "Freebie and the Bean" and "The Aviator".
He was born on June 17, 1931, in New Haven, Connecticut, and played both violin and accordion as a youngster. Alfred Newman, who was music director at 20th Century-Fox at the time, took him under his wing after Frontiere came to Hollywood in the 1950s.

Frontiere started off in the early '60s with the films "Seven Thieves", "One Foot in Hell" and "The Marriage-Go- Round".
With "The Marriage...", he began a long partnership with writer-producer Leslie Stevens and they later went on to work on TV series such as "Stoney Burke", "The Outer Limits", "Search" and various pilots.

He won an Emmy as musical director of "Swing Out, Sweet Land" in 1970, a patriotic TV special hosted by John Wayne. He also gave the score in three films for Wayne - "Chisum", "The Train Robbers" and "Brannigan".
Frontiere largest-scale work for TV was the 12-hour mini-series "Washington: Behind Closed Doors". He scored for the project during his stint as head of music for Paramount in the mid '70s. His other TV movies included "Probe" and "Palomino".

His career took a jolt in 1986 when he was sentenced to a year in federal prison for filing a false income tax return and lying to IRS investigators to hide his role in knicking tickets for the 1980 Super Bowl. Frontiere resumed his career in 1987 after spending a few months in jail.
He earned a Golden Globe nomination for best song for "The Color of Night" in 1994, which was his last film credit.
Frontiere is survived by his wife Robin, and five children.