'The Simpsons' beloved music editor Chris Ledesma who served Fox animated series' from their premiere in 1989 through a 34th-season instalment in November has passed away aged 64.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a US-based news outlet, Ledesma passed away on December 16 in Los Angeles. No specific cause of death was revealed.
On Fox's The Tracey Ullman Show, Ledesma had been hired to step in as a music editor when The Simpsons debuted as a collection of cartoons playing in between commercials. On Nov. 22, 1989, he began working on the spinoff.
"I was skeptical of turning the little 30- and 60-second featurettes on Tracey into a full-fledged, half-hour show," he wrote on his blog in 2011. "All that went out the window as soon as I saw the first two shows."
Ledesma stated on Twitter in September 2021 that he had been with The Simpsons for more than half his life. He was 23,242 days old and had worked for 11,621 of them.
Today is a significant milestone for me.
I am 23,242 days old
I have worked on The Simpsons for 11,621 days
Born 1/28/1958
First day on #TheSimpsons 11/22/1989
Not many can say they have worked at ANY job any more for LITERALLY half their lives.
#Grateful #Blessed
— Chris Ledesma (@mxedtr) September 16, 2021
He quit the show in May, and his final Simpsons episode aired in November as season 34's eighth instalment. On Sunday night, the series honoured him with an end title card. The series paid tribute to him on Sunday night with an end title card that read, "In loving memory of Chris Ledesma."
According to The Hollywood Reporter, on January 28, 1958, Christopher Frederick Ledesma was born in Los Angeles. At age 3, he began playing the piano by ear. In the third grade, he began regular trumpet training.
He made the decision to pursue a profession in music editing while attending CalArts after working as such on a student film. His area of study at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music was orchestral conducting.
Ledesma attended scoring sessions for programmes including Murder, She Wrote, Magnum P.I., Airwolf, and Amazing Stories while working as a tour guide at Universal Studios Hollywood. He called that "a priceless education that could never have been offered at any college or university."
Writer Carolyn Omine shared the tribute card and wrote, "Chris Ledesma was a sweet man who loved his job and was really, really good at it. We miss him."
Chris Ledesma was a sweet man who loved his job and was really, really good at it. We miss him. @mxedtr @TheSimpsons pic.twitter.com/XqKBjGLcwM
— Carolyn Omine (@CarolynOmine) January 2, 2023
The two-time Emmy nominee served as music editor for The Critic, an animated programme produced by Al Jean and Mike Reiss of The Simpsons, which premiered in 1994.
He conducted a homage to Simpsons composer Alf Clausen in September 2014 at the Hollywood Bowl, with whom he had a close working relationship for a long time.
In addition, he appeared in 20 Hallmark Hall of Fame telefilms, the 1988 miniseries War and Remembrance, the 1993 TV movie Gypsy, which starred Bette Midler, and the 1991 films Back in the U.S.S.R., Dark Shadows, Pure Country, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Blast From the Past, and Dudley Do-Right. (For those last two productions, he was nominated for Emmys.)
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ledesma's survivors include his wife, Michelle; two daughters and two sons-in-law; and three grandchildren.
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