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Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953 in Los Angeles, California, USA) is a prolific and award-winning film and television composer. His Grammy Award-winning theme for Tim Burton's 1989 live-action film Batman has been used repeatedly in other DC productions.
The main theme of Batman: The Animated Series, which was heard during the opening and ending credits of each episode, was composed by Danny Elfman. At first, Elfman turned down Bruce Timm's offer to compose the theme for the show and so Timm hired Shirley Walker to do so. However, Elfman later changed his mind and composed a variation of his 1989 Batman film theme for the series. Walker's unused theme went on to become the main theme for the second season of the show, when the name was changed to The Adventures of Batman & Robin. The exception to this was Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, in which the 1989 film theme was used.
Elfman's theme from the 1989 Batman film was also occasionally used as a leitmotif for Batman in earlier episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, often in tandem with Walker's theme. Later in the series, the usage of Elfman's theme as a leitmotif gradually became less frequent, with Walker's theme being used more and more consistently in the series.