Chris Ledesma, who was ‘s favorite music editor The Simpsons on every one of its first 734 episodes, from the premiere of the Fox animated series in 1989 to the 34th season in November, died. He was 64.
Ledesma died on December 16 in Los Angeles, a spokesperson for the show said Hollywood Reporter. No cause of death has been revealed.
Ledesma has been hired as a music editor on Fox’s The Tracey Ullman Programwhere The Simpsons began with a series of short films appearing in and out of commercials. He then began starring in the spin-off on November 22, 1989.
“I was skeptical about playing 30 and 60 second short films Mark into a full-fledged half-hour show,” he wrote on his blog in 2011. “All of that fell off the moment I watched the first two shows.”
Ledesma noted on Twitter in September 2021 that he was with The Simpsons more than half a person’s life. At the time, he was 23,242 days old and had staffed 11,621 of them.
He left the show in Mayand his final Simpsons the episode aired in November as the eighth season of season 34. On Sunday night, the series paid tribute to him with an end title card that read, “In memory of Chris Ledesma. “
Christopher Frederick Ledesma was born in Los Angeles on January 28, 1958. He started playing the piano by ear at the age of 3, then took formal lessons in the third grade.
While at CalArts, he decided to pursue a career in music editing after serving in that capacity on a student film. He is also an expert conductor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
When he’s not driving a tram as a tour guide at Universal Studios Hollywood, Ledesma has participated in grading sessions for shows like Murder, she wrote, Magnum PI, flying wolf and great storyS. He calls it “an invaluable education that no other college or university can provide.”
In September 1985, Ledesma took a job as an apprentice music editor at the leading music editing company Segue Music, where he handled popular MTM Enterprises programs including Hill Street Blues and Saints Elsewhere. He later worked for Music Design Group and Music Works before founding his own company, Click Track Inc., in 1992.
(Through all of this, he didn’t give up his job on the Universal Studios tour until the spring of 1988.)
Beginning in 1994, the two-time Emmy Award nominee is also the music editor for another animated show, Criticcreated by Al Jean and Mike Reiss of The Simpsons.
In September 2014, he conducted a memorial service Simpsons composer Alf Clausen, with whom he worked closely for many years, at the Hollywood Bowl.
His resume also includes movies Back to the Soviet Union (1991), Dark (1991), Pure water (1992), Robin Hood: Men wear tights (1993), Dracula: Die and love it (1995), Explosion from the past (1999) and Dudley did it right (1999); 20 movies Hallmark Hall of Fame; 1988 short TV series War and Memory; and the 1993 drama gangster, played by Bette Midler. (He received Emmy Award nominations for those last two projects.)
Survivors include his wife, Michelle; two daughters and two sons-in-law; and three grandchildren.
“The most rewarding part of my job is that I can support and take care of my family, and at the same time I get to work with really nice people on a program that makes people happy,” he said. .
Courtesy of Walt Disney Co.
