Jerry Goldsmith,the avant-garde Hollywood composer who earned more than a dozen Academy Awardnominations and won the Oscar in 1976 for The Omen, died in his Beverly Hills homeyesterday aged 75 after a long battle against cancer.

Among hisoriginal score credits were Chinatown, Planet Of The Apes, Papillon, Patton, Basic Instinct and LA Confidential, as well as five Star Trek pictures.

Goldsmith was born in LosAngeles on Feb 10 1929 and was tutored by Miklos Rozsa, whose Spellbound score he greatly admired, and Jacob Gimpel, amongothers. He eventually found his way into film score work via a stint at CBS.

Goldsmith issurvived by his wife Carol and their son, as well as four children from aprevious marriage, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.