Jerry Goldsmith, one of Hollywood's most prominent composers who left an indelible mark on Star Trek, died Wednesday night after a long battle with cancer. He was 75.

Goldsmith's compositions have virtually defined the musical personality of Star Trek since the debut of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" in 1979. That score went on to be the theme song for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Goldsmith also wrote the title music for Star Trek: Voyager, along with several other Trek movies including "Star Trek: First Contact," which many fans believe to be one of the most inspired scores ever written for a genre film (or any film for that matter).

He's even left his mark on the Star Trek: The Experience attraction in Las Vegas, with original music for "Borg Invasion 4D." He also scored "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," "Star Trek: Insurrection," and two years ago, "Star Trek Nemesis."

His soundtrack for "ST:TMP" earned him one of his 17 Academy Award nominations (his one Oscar win was in 1977 for "The Omen"), as well as nominations for Golden Globe and Saturn awards. His Voyager theme song earned one of his five Emmy trophies. "First Contact" won him a BMI Film Music Award, and his audio commentary on the "Director's Edition" DVD of "TMP" earned a Video Premiere Award nomination in 2001.

A classically trained composer and conductor who began musical studies at age six, Goldsmith's career spanned nearly half a century, with an astonishing number of TV and movie scores that have become classics in their own right, including "Patton," "Rambo," "L.A. Confidential," "Basic Instinct" and "Chinatown." Science fiction fans also revere his work on the original "Planet of the Apes" as well as "Logan's Run," "Poltergeist," "Alien," "Total Recall" and many, many others.

Born February 10, 1929 in Los Angeles, Goldsmith studied with famed pianist Jacob Gimpel and pianist-composer-film musician Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, according to an Associated Press story. He fell in love with movie composing when he saw the 1945 Ingrid Bergman movie "Spellbound," and while attending the University of California took classes with Miklos Rozsa, who wrote the Oscar-winning score for that film. In 1950, Goldsmith got a job as a clerk typist at CBS and eventually got assignments for live radio shows, writing as much as one score a week. He later turned to television. In the late 1950s he began composing for movies. His career took off in the 1960s with such major films as "Lonely Are the Brave" and "The Blue Max." He earned his first Academy Award nomination for his work on 1962's "Freud."

Goldsmith was known for his versatility and his experimentation. He added electronics to the woodwinds and brasses of his scores. For 1968's "Planet of the Apes," he got a blaring effect by having his musicians blow horns without mouthpieces. With a puckish sense of humor, he reportedly wore an ape mask while conducting the score.

He is survived by his wife, Carol; children Aaron, Joel, Carrie, Ellen Edson and Jennifer Grossman, six grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

The full AP obituary can be found at this CNN.com link. Another obituary is posted at this IMDB.com link. At JerryGoldsmithOnline.com, a special forum has been established for fans to post messages in memory of the great musician.

Goldsmith will be sorely missed in the Star Trek world. Rick Berman, executive producer of Star Trek: Enterprise, had the following comments on news of the composer's death:

It broke my heart. It's literally like losing a member of my family. I've known Jerry for 17 years, from when we first started on The Next Generation, where he adapted the theme from the first Star Trek movie. He also did the Voyager theme and three of our four movies. He was just an extraordinary composer and an extremely talented person. If you talked to 20 people who worked with Jerry they would say the same thing. He was mild mannered, amenable. If you look at the scope of the movies he scored, you would see what a versatile composer he was. He was just a joy to work with. He will be missed.

Also mourning is David C. Fein, who worked with Robert Wise to produce the 2001 "Director's Edition" of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." He made the following statement:

For Jerry...

I took the news today about the passing of our friend Jerry Goldsmith with great sadness. One of the world's true living legends of music is gone.

Jerry's music has always touched an emotional part of our soul, and has taken us on many magical journeys. Always filled with originality, energy and passion, his work has carried a personal investment that was unique and memorable — just listen to his scores for "Alien," "Explorers," "Gremlins," "Legend," "Logan's Run," "Patton," "Planet of the Apes," "Poltergeist," "Rambo," "The Sand Pebbles," Star Trek, "Supergirl," "Total Recall," "Chinatown," The Twilight Zone (both the series and the feature film) and his Academy Award-winning score for "The Omen."

Jerry was with us every day (figuratively speaking) during production of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director's Edition." Jerry's score was undeniably the one part of the film that was finished and perfect when the movie was released in 1979.

From the earliest days of discussing the project up through the final completion of the film, Jerry's musical voice inspired and helped to guide our own visual concert. While Jerry's score was originally destined to smooth the narrative, it was that orchestral grace that had grown into being the narrative of our story itself. From his inspired "trip around the Enterprise" to particularly our communal "journey through the cloud to V'ger," we found that this was a time to embrace the music — dial down the sound effects — and revel in the wonder.

It is Jerry's music that continues even today as the emotional and inspiring voice of the final frontier. It is with great sadness — and great hope — that he departs on a new adventure of his own.

Thank you Jerry for your investment into our films, our culture, and our lives. We will miss you.

David C. Fein