[4][5][6] As a result, Goodman returned to Los Angeles and studied music and film scoring with private teachers including Albert Harris.
Goodman and Mandel would continue to collaborate with each other over the next few years, most notably to score Sidney Lumet's Oscar-nominated film, The Verdict (1982).
[9] He also orchestrated or scored music for Footloose (1984), About Last Night (1986), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), La Bamba (1987), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Problem Child (1990), What About Bob?
(1991), Housesitter (1992), Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), Dunston Checks In (1996), Larger than Life (1996) and 'Til There Was You (1997), the latter two released posthumously.
[14] When a friend suggested to Goodman that he try producing records, he conceived an album of contemporary Brazilian music with harmonica great Toots Thielemans titled The Brasil Project.
[2][15] Color and Light: Jazz Sketches of Sondheim was produced by Goodman and Castro-Neves in 1995 and was highly praised.
[4][5][6][16] The Billie Holiday Songbook, featuring trumpeter Terence Blanchard, was also a hit with critics and customers.
[11] Goodman and Castro-Neves had also worked on a project of an audio-only series of classic children's stories narrated over newly composed music with other artists.
[18] He even completed work on several albums that were scheduled for release by 1997 that featured such artists as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, soprano Kathleen Battle and pianist Ottmar Liebert.
Director Scott Winant approved the duo, thinking the comical mastery of Goodman and the jazzy romance of Blanchard would make the perfect combination.
Blanchard was even excited about collaborating with his friend and mentor that he rearranged his summer tour of The Heart Speaks around Goodman's ever-busy scoring schedule.
[20][21] Goodman died from a heart attack at St. John's Hospital and Medical Center in Santa Monica, California on August 16, 1996.