Jim Helms(1933-1991)

James Herman Helms was born in Norfolk, Virginia. He graduated from California's San Diego State College in 1957, doing postgraduate work at UCLA from 1958 to 1960. He studied guitar with Howard Roberts, and recorded albums like ''12-String Guitar'' and ''Bossa Nova'' for Crown Records, 1963. He also was a guitarist and arranger for Rick Nelson, Randy Sparks, and Rod McKuen. Later he formed a music company with his wife, lyricist Norma Green, and singer-songwriter-producer Gary LeMel. They scored low-budget movies and composed music for TV commercials. In 1971, he was signed to do the ''Kung Fu'' pilot score, which didn't include the main-title music that became characteristic when the series began airing in 1972. Helms revised and re-recorded both the main and end-title music several times throughout the first season. An LP (later a CD) with music and dialogue from the first season was released in 1973. After the end of ''Kung Fu,'' Helms wrote concert music, and also scored TV movies, low-budget thrillers, and commercials, with relative success. He died in October 1991, reportedly of a heart attack. His death passed unnoticed, apparently without a published obituary.