The famous "Star Trek fight music" was composed by Gerald Fried. He would often joke that his ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) royalty cheques would keep coming in, years after he wrote that percussive and driving piece for the Star Trek episode "Amok Time". ("The Ritual / Ancient Battle / 2nd Kroykah", its cue-sheet name, was reused for two subsequent episodes.) Television series such as The Simpsons and feature films like The Cable Guy paid homage and money.
Mr Fried was director Stanley Kubrick's first composer. They had known each other since childhood so it made sense that the oboist/composer and the photographer/filmmaker would get together to make some film art: Day of the Fight (1951) and Paths of Glory (1957), for example.
For television Fried wrote much music for the shows The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Gilligan's Island, and many others.
The man himself sent me the above photo in October of 1991 after I wrote him a very un-fan-like letter. (A Note of Appreciation.)
Gerald Fried died in February of 2023, shortly after his 95th birthday, but his association with a certain television program will ensure his work lives on... and his estate will continue to receive those ASCAP cheques.
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