Shirley Walker

One may notice that my list of composers is mostly men. All men, actually, except for Yoko Shimomura and Shirley Walker. Partly, this is my fault, as I have yet to explore the scores of women such as Rachel Portman, Debbie Wiseman, Deborah Lurie, and others. But women still for some reason make up a small percentage of film composers (and classical composers in general). This has more to do with the business than with talent, for Walker's musical skill is undeniable. She started her career playing synthesizer on Apocalypse Now, and served as a conductor and orchestrator for composers Carmine Coppola, Brad Fiedel, Hans Zimmer, and Danny Elfman, among others. Notable scores she worked on include Fiedel's True Lies; Trevor Jones's Arachnophobia; Elliot Goldenthal's Batman Forever; Zimmer's Black Rain, Bird on a Wire, Days of Thunder, Pacific Heights, Backdraft, Radio Flyer, A League of Their Own, Renaissance Man, and Toys; and Elfman's Scrooged, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Dick Tracy, Nightbreed, Darkman, and Article 99. On her own, Walker composed the scores to John Carpenter's Memoirs of an Invisible Man and Escape from LA as well as the thrillers Turbulence, Willard, and Black Christmas. She created the alternately brutal and elegant music for the first three Final Destination films and composed for the TV shows Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, The Flash, and Space: Above and Beyond. Her work on the Batman series led her to compose for the animated feature Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, a stunning score that represents the Dark Knight as well as Elfman's music, and is leagues above the scores for Christopher Nolan's otherwise masterfully-crafted entries. Walker passed away in 2006, and one can only guess at melodies from her that will remain unheard.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm*