Today would have been the 80th birthday of Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou. You know him better as Vangelis.

Vangelis, of course, achieved world fame with his ubiquitous music for “Chariots of Fire” in 1981. The score not only earned him an Academy Award, but its main theme shot to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Chart. For anyone who was alive at the time and in possession of a radio, it was inescapable, and as a result much-parodied.

In 1982, he composed the score for another film with legs, Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner.” Vangelis’ dreamy electronics perfectly complemented the dystopian visuals by Douglas Trumbull, a worn-out, high-tech future, after concept art of Syd Mead.

Earlier, he received wide exposure through the use of his music in the 1980 PBS television series “Cosmos.”

Vangelis died in May. Yesterday, on the eve of the composer’s birthday anniversary, Hugh Hudson, director of “Chariots of Fire,” followed at the age of 86. “Chariots of Fire” is ranked at 19 on the British Film Institute’s list of Top 100 British Films.

Happy birthday in the cosmos, Vangelis.

Vangelis, enjoying his morning regimen of smoking a cigarette over a cup of coffee while playing piano to footage of athletes wearing themselves out running on the beach

Rowan Atkinson playing it for Sir Simon Rattle

1. You called it, Ridley.

8 hours of “Blade Runner” in the rain

PHOTO: Vangelis, Greek god of synthesizers