We woke up today to the news that a plane registered to Oscar Award-winning composer, James Horner, crashed near Santa Barbara, California yesterday. The composer, aged 61, is now missing and feared dead. Some of the most beautiful music ever heard on the big screen can be credited to Horner, namely the soundtracks for Titanic, Braveheart and A Beautiful Mind, among other famous pieces. While many mainstream sites are reporting cautiously on the story, some have all but confirmed that Horner is no more. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Horner’s “death was confirmed by Sylvia Patrycja, who is identified on Horner’s film music page as his assistant.
‘We have lost an amazing person with a huge heart and unbelievable talent,’ Patrycja wrote on Facebook on Monday. ‘He died doing what he loved. Thank you for all your support and love and see you down the road.’
Horner was piloting the small aircraft when it crashed into a remote area about 60 miles [95km] north of Santa Barbara, officials said. An earlier report noted that the plane, which was registered to the composer, had gone down, but the pilot had not been identified.
For his work on the 1997 best picture winner Titanic, directed by James Cameron, Horner captured the Oscar for original dramatic score, and he nabbed another Academy Award for original song (shared with lyricist Will Jennings) for “My Heart Will Go On,” performed by Celine Dion.
‘My job — and it’s something I discuss with Jim all the time — is to make sure at every turn of the film it’s something the audience can feel with their heart,’ Horner said in a 2009 interview with the Los Angeles Times. ‘When we lose a character, when somebody wins, when somebody loses, when someone disappears — at all times I’m keeping track, constantly, of what the heart is supposed to be feeling. That is my primary role.'”
Reading this, one cannot help but be inspired that this is a man who was able to find his passion in life and consistently run with it for so many years. He never needed to prove a point to anybody or try to run anybody else’s race because he knew, as he said himself, what his primary role was. When he came to the end of his life, he was doing what he loved.
Can you say that for yourself? Do you know what your primary role is in life or are you just coasting along, slurping up whatever comes along and whatever people tell you about yourself? If you are doing the latter, it may be time to stop and reflect. Much as we may want to think we can find this role on our own, we do need to be humble enough to know that we are created beings, whose purpose is known only to God. Connect with God today and develop a relationship with Him that will give meaning to your life. Please click on the banner below to find out more.