[Thor Joachim Haga]

Yeah, some of these are tricky and borderline. There are other names on the list that at least warrant discussion as well:

Gheorghe Zamfir – mostly famous as a pan flute player on many soundtracks, he’s actually written a few scores as well.

John Williams (the guitarist) — has played on soundtracks, including – most famously – “Cavatina”, and written the score for EMMA.

Paul Williams – mostly a songwriter, has contributed on many film songs, and presumably written a score or two.

Anthony Hopkins and Clint Eastwood — more famous as actors, but have written several scores

Arvo Pärt, Terry Riley, Steve Reich — mostly minimalist concert music, but presumably also a few, lesser known scores

Thea Musgrave — mostly opera and classical music. Some film music?

Terry Gibbs — mostly a studio musician, did he write any scores?

Ray Anthony — a studio musician. He didn’t write any scores. But included him at the end nonetheless, since he played on so many soundtracks. And he’s so ancient at 104

Elisabeth Waldo — mostly known as an ethno musician, but she DID write a couple of scores. At a whopping 107, she’s also the oldest “celebrity” in the world, I think.

I’m open to discussing pros and cons of having all of these on there.

What is certain is that Johnny Pate, at 102, remains the oldest film composer in the world. Yes, he did many other things as well, but with 9 original scores on his resume, there’s no doubt about his qualification.