The Simpsons legend dies after battle with rare neurological illness

Alf Clausen, the composer best known for his 27 year stint on has died aged 84. The film composer passed away on Thursday at his Valley Village home in Los Angeles after a battle with a rare illness.

The star had been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) in his mid-seventies. There is currently no cure for the condition which affects vision, speech, movement and balance.

Clausen composed a number of the show's best known melodies after joining the show in 1990, one year after the iconic show began. He continued to work on The Simpsons until its 28th season in 2017. He was granted Emmy Awards in 1997 and 1998 for the songs We Put the Spring in Springfield and You’re Checkin’ In (A Musical Tribute to the Betty Ford Center).

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The star earned a total of 21 Emmy nominations for his work on the hit show, and 30 in his career overall. Aside from The Simpsons, Clausen's TV credits include movies and TV shows including Moonlighting, The Naked Gun and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Tributes have been pouring in for the star online, as Al Jean, one of The Simpsons longest serving writers penned on X, formerly known as : “Clausen was an incredibly talented man who did so much for The Simpsons.”

However, it could have been a completely different story for the star, who once revealed he almost turned the show down because he was more interested in doing longform feature films.

During a 2015 conversation for the , Clausen recalled: “I was posed the question, ‘Would you like to score an animated show?’" However, he then revealed he said no at first.

“I said, ‘I just got off of four years of Moonlighting, and I really want to be a drama composer. I’m more interested in doing longform feature films.'”

It was show creator Matt Groening who convinced him to join - telling him the show wasn't a cartoon. “We look on our show as being, not a cartoon, we look upon it as a drama where the characters are drawn,” Groening told Clausen. “And we would like it scored that way. Could you do that?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I could do that,'” Clausen said.

Clausen is survived by his wife Sally, children Kaarin, Scott and Kyle, stepchildren Josh and Emily, and 11 grandchildren.

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