Allyn Malcolm Ferguson Jr. (October 18, 1924 – June 23, 2010) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 composer, best known for the themes for 1970s television programs Barney Miller

Barney Miller

Barney Miller is a situation comedy television series set in a New York City police station in Greenwich Village. The series originally was broadcast from January 23, 1975 to May 20, 1982 on ABC. It was created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker...

and Charlie's Angels

Charlie's Angels

Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...

, which he co-wrote with Jack Elliott. In its obituary, Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

called him "among the most prolific composers of TV-movie scores in the past 40 years".

Ferguson was born in San Jose, California

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

 on October 18, 1924. He started playing the trumpet when he was four years old and began playing piano at seven. After graduating from San Jose State University

San José State University

San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...

, he traveled to Paris, where he studied with Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...

 and at Tanglewood

Tanglewood

Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...

 with Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...

. He established the Chamber Jazz Sextet in the 1950s, combining classical and jazz influences. Ferguson and his Chamber Jazz Sextet collaborated with the poet Kenneth Patchen

Kenneth Patchen

Kenneth Patchen was an American poet and novelist. Though he denied any direct connection, Patchen's work and ideas regarding the role of artists paralleled those of the Dadaists, the Beats, and Surrealists...

 on a recording in 1957, originally titled Kenneth Patchen with the Chamber Jazz Sextet. Behind Patchen's readings, Ferguson and the Chamber Jazz Sextet performed jazz accompaniment which Ferguson composed for eight individual poems. The group produced "Pictures at an Exhibition: Framed in Jazz" in 1963, a big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

-style production of the Modest Mussorgsky

Modest Mussorgsky

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...

 piano suite

Pictures at an Exhibition

Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite in ten movements composed for piano by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874.The suite is Mussorgsky's most famous piano composition, and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists...

.

During the 1970s, he collaborated extensively with composer Jack Elliott, creating scores for themes for Barney Miller

Barney Miller

Barney Miller is a situation comedy television series set in a New York City police station in Greenwich Village. The series originally was broadcast from January 23, 1975 to May 20, 1982 on ABC. It was created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker...

and Charlie's Angels

Charlie's Angels

Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...

. University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

 music historian Jon Burlingame called the themes "iconic in the sense that most people who were around in that era can easily recall those tunes". Together with Eliott, he created scores for episodes of Banacek

Banacek

Banacek is a short-lived, light-hearted detective TV series starring George Peppard on NBC from 1972 to 1974. It alternated in its timeslot with several other shows but was the only one to last beyond its first season...

, Fish

Fish (TV series)

Fish was a spin-off television series of the sitcom Barney Miller. It starred Abe Vigoda as New York Police Department Detective Phil Fish and Florence Stanley as his wife Bernice.- Overview :...

, Police Story, Starsky and Hutch

Starsky and Hutch

Starsky and Hutch is a 1970s American cop thriller television series that consisted of a 90-minute pilot movie and 92 episodes of 60 minutes each; created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30, 1975 and May 15, 1979 on the ABC...

, S.W.A.T.

S.W.A.T.

- S.W.A.T. 1 :Date: October 4, 2006Location: VilniusResults: Valentine Bagdonavicius defeated Richard Damanskas by KO Gediminas Bielskis defeated Mantas Kuslin by KO Saulius Poltanavicius vs Aivaras Juska Draw...

and The Rookies

The Rookies

The Rookies is an American crime drama series that aired on ABC from 1972 until 1976. It followed the exploits of three rookie police officers in an unidentified city for the fictitious Southern California Police Department .-History:...

. The duo also collaborated to form the Foundation for New American Music in 1978. Ferguson was among the founders of the Grove School of Music in Los Angeles.

During the 1980s, he produced Emmy Award

Emmy Award

An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

-nominated scores for April Morning, Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe (1982 film)

Ivanhoe is a 1982 television film adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's novel of the same name. The film was directed by Douglas Camfield and screenplay written by John Gay...

, The Last Days of Patton

The Last Days of Patton

The Last Days of Patton is a 1986 made-for-television film sequel to the 1970 film Patton, which portrays the last few months of the general's life. George C. Scott reprises the role of General George S. Patton, and Eva Marie Saint portrays Beatrice Patton, the general's wife. The film was...

, Master of the Game and Pancho Barnes

Pancho Barnes (1988 film)

Pancho Barnes is a 1988 biopic film, starring Valerie Bertinelli as Florence "Pancho" Lowe Barnes.-Plot:Leaving an arranged marriage to Reverend Rankin Barnes , Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes takes an interest in flying light planes in the 1920s, and soon rivals Amelia Earhart , breaking world...

, winning in 1985 for his work on Camille

Camille (1984 film)

Camille is a 1984 television film based on the 1852 novel and play La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils. It was adapted by Blanche Hanalis and directed by Desmond Davis. It stars Greta Scacchi, Colin Firth, John Gielgud, Billie Whitelaw, Patrick Ryecart, Denholm Elliott and Ben Kingsley....

. He worked on dozens of films for Norman Rosemont, including A Tale of Two Cities, Captains Courageous, Les Misérables, Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo (1975 film)

The Count of Monte-Cristo is a 1975 television film produced by ITC Entertainment and based upon the book The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, père...

and The Man in the Iron Mask

The Man in the Iron Mask (1977 film)

The Man in the Iron Mask is a 1977 television film loosely adapted from The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas and presenting several plot similarities with the 1939 film version...

.

He was music director for television presentations of the American Movie Awards

American Movie Awards

The American Movie Awards were awards to honour excellence in film, there were only two ceremonies, one in 1980, and one in 1982.-1980:*Best Film: Rocky II*Best Actor: Alan Alda *Best Actress: Sally Field...

, Emmy Award, Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

, Kennedy Center Honors

Kennedy Center Honors

The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. The Honors have been presented annually since 1978 in Washington, D.C., during gala weekend-long events which culminate in a performance for—and...

 and the Oscars

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

. Ferguson was musical director for Julie Andrews

Julie Andrews

Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...

, Johnny Mathis

Johnny Mathis

John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...

 and for Steve Lawrence

Steve Lawrence

Steve Lawrence is an American singer and actor, perhaps best known as a member of a duo with his wife Eydie Gormé, billed as "Steve and Eydie"...

 and Eydie Gorme

Eydie Gormé

Eydie Gormé is an American singer, specializing, with her husband, Steve Lawrence, in traditional pop music, in the form of ballads and breezy swing. She has earned numerous awards, including the Grammy and the Emmy...

.

Ferguson died of natural causes at age 85 on June 23, 2010, at his home in Westlake Village, California

Westlake Village, California

Westlake Village is a planned community that straddles the Los Angeles and Ventura county line. The eastern portion is the incorporated city Westlake Village, located on the western edge of Los Angeles County, California. The city, located in the region known as the Conejo Valley, encompasses half...

. He was survived by his wife, Joline, as well as by three children and six grandchildren.