Pete Carpenter
Clarence E. "Pete" Carpenter (April 1, 1914 – October 18, 1987) was an American jazz trombonist, arranger, and veteran of television theme music sheet music. After a long career playing the trombone in bands and as a studio musician, Carpenter started working with composer Earle Hagen and writing music for television on shows like "Bewitched" (1964), "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." (1964), and "The Andy Griffith Show" (1966–1967). Music. Carpenter's collaboration with the much younger composer Mike Post began in 1968 and lasted until Carpenter's death nearly two decades later. The two saw some success when they wrote the  theme for producer Stephen J. Cannell's first show, the police detective drama "Toma" in 1973. But their big breakthrough was the top 10 "Billboard" hit and Grammy Award-winning theme for Cannell's private detective drama "The Rockford Files" in 1974, starring James Garner. Film and television works. Carpenter and Post went on to score over 1800 hours of television, and to compose the music for television shows like "The Rockford Files" (1974), "CHiPs" (1977), "Magnum, P.I." (1980), "Tenspeed and Brown Shoe" (1980), "The A-Team" (1983), "Hardcastle and McCormick" (1983), "Riptide" (1984), "Hunter" (1984), "Stingray" (1985), as well  as movies like "Vanishing Point" (1971), "Rabbit Test" (1978), and "" (1982). In addition to their 17th Annual Grammy Awards for Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumentalist for "Rockford", for "Hunter" the duo won a Broadcast Music, Inc. TV Music Award in 1989. The theme for "The A-Team" and "The Rockford Files" have also made appearances on other television programs and movies, including the pilot for David Chase's hit show on HBO, "The Sopranos" (1999), and the films "Not Another Teen Movie" (2001), "" (2003), "Napoleon Dynamite" (2004), and "Miracle" (2004). Personal life. Carpenter died of lung cancer in Sherman  Oaks, California in 1987 at the age of 73. He was married to actress Maybeth Carr, the daughter of silent screen star Mary Carr, and had two children, Pete Jr., and Nancy. The "Magnum, P.I." episode "Innocence... A Broad" was dedicated to him. In 1987, Mike Post and the BMI Foundation established a Pete Carpenter Memorial Fund to benefit young composers.