John Cacavas

John Cacavas

John Cacavas (born August 13, 1930 in Aberdeen, South Dakota) is a composer and conductor probably best known for his television scores, notably Kojak, for which he was the chief composer, and for which he composed the second main title theme, used throughout the show's 5th and final season. The somewhat more well-known first Kojak theme, in two distinct arrangements, however, is not by Cacavas, but rather the work of Billy Goldenberg, who scored the early episodes. Cacavas's television credits also include Hawaii Five-O, The Bionic Woman, Mrs. Columbo, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. While he has extensive credits in television series and television movies, such as Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, he has comparatively few credits for film scores, most notably two entries in the Airport series: Airport 1975 and Airport '77. He was also responsible for the eerie score for Horror Express, a film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Scoring music for the 1981 television movie Hellinger's Law reunited him with Kojak veteran Telly Savalas.

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