Born in
Kansas City, Missouri, to Greek immigrant parents from
Messenia, he credited two influences with guiding him towards music: the first was composer
Miklós Rózsa; the second his own
Greek Orthodox heritage. Poledouris was raised in the Church, and he used to sit in services enthralled by the choir's sound. At the age of seven, Poledouris began piano lessons, and after graduation from
Garden Grove High School, he enrolled at the
University of Southern California to study both filmmaking and music. Several short films to which he contributed are still kept in the university's archives. At USC, Poledouris met movie directors
John Milius and
Randal Kleiser, with whom he would later collaborate as a music composer. He appeared as a background extra in several episodes of
Star Trek: The Original Series. In 1985, Poledouris wrote the music for
Paul Verhoeven's
Flesh & Blood, establishing a durable collaboration. Poledouris became renowned for his powerfully epic style of orchestral composition and his intricate thematic designs. He scored the soundtrack for
The Blue Lagoon (1980; dir: Kleiser);
Conan the Barbarian (1982; dir: Milius);
Conan the Destroyer (1984);
Red Dawn (1984; dir: Milius),
Iron Eagle (1986);
RoboCop (1987; dir: Verhoeven);
The Hunt for Red October (1990);
Quigley Down Under (1990
Simon Wincer);
Free Willy (1993) and its first sequel
Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (1995);
Starship Troopers (1997; dir: Verhoeven); and
For Love of the Game (1999). Poledouris' studio, "Blowtorch Flats", was located in
Venice, California, and was a professional mixing facility specializing in film and media production. , in 2009 Poledouris married his wife Bobbie in 1969; they had two daughters, Zoë and Alexis. His elder daughter, Zoë Poledouris, is an actress and film composer, who occasionally collaborated with her father in composing film soundtracks. In 1996, Poledouris composed "The Tradition of the Games" for the
Atlanta Olympics opening ceremony that accompanied the memorable dance tribute to the athletes and goddesses of victory of the ancient Greek Olympics using silhouette imagery. Poledouris spent the last four years of his life residing on
Vashon Island, in
Washington state. He died on November 8, 2006, in
Los Angeles,
California, aged 61, from
lung cancer. ==Awards and nominations==