John Barry

Known for SoundBorn 1933-11-03Died 2011-01-30York, North Yorkshire, England, UK

John Barry Prendergast OBE (3 November 1933 – 30 January 2011) was an English composer and conductor of film music. He composed the scores for eleven of the James Bond films between 1963 and 1987, as well as arranging and performing the "James Bond Theme" for the first film in the series, 1962's Dr. No. He wrote the Grammy- and Academy Award-winning scores to the films Dances with Wolves and Out of Africa, as well as the scores of The Scarlet Letter; Chaplin; The Cotton Club; The Tamarind Seed; Mary, Queen of Scots; Game of Death; and the theme for the television series The Persuaders!, in a career spanning over 50 years. In 1999, he was appointed with an OBE for services to music. Born in York, Barry spent his early years working in cinemas owned by his father. During his national service with the British Army in Cyprus, Barry began performing as a musician after learning to play the trumpet. Upon completing his national service, he formed a band in 1957, the John Barry Seven. He later developed an interest in composing and arranging music, making his début for television in 1958. He came to the notice of the makers of the first James Bond film Dr. No, who were dissatisfied with a theme for James Bond given to them by Monty Norman. Noel Rogers, the head of music at United Artists, approached Barry. This started a successful association between Barry and the Bond series that lasted for 25 years. Barry received awards including five Academy Awards: two for Born Free and one each for The Lion in Winter (for which he also won the first BAFTA Award for Best Film Music), Dances with Wolves and Out of Africa (both of which also won him Grammy Awards). He also received ten Golden Globe Award nominations, winning once for Best Original Score for Out of Africa in 1986. Barry completed his last film score, Enigma, in 2001 and recorded the successful album Eternal Echoes the same year. He then concentrated chiefly on live performances and co-wrote the music to the musical Brighton Rock in 2004 alongside Don Black. In 2001, Barry became a Fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, and, in 2005, he was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Barry was married four times and had four children. He moved to the United States in 1975 and lived there until his death in 2011. Description above from the Wikipedia page John Barry, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.Read more

Movies & web series

The Final Game of Death

6.5 Special

The Cool Mikado

A Song of Africa

Dances with Wolves: The Creation of an Epic

Back To "Somewhere In Time"

Nobody Does It Better: The Music of James Bond

A Killing Affair

Dances with Wolves

Elizabeth Taylor: A Musical Celebration

Elizabeth Taylor in London

Inside 'Diamonds Are Forever'

The Glass Menagerie

The Sound of 007

Follow Me!

Everything or Nothing

Chaplin

Somewhere in Time

Midnight Cowboy

The Corn Is Green

Inside 'Dr. No'

The Lion in Winter

Lights, Action, Music

Goldfinger

Zulu

Out of Africa

Walkabout

The Making of 'Dances with Wolves'

Omnibus

Seance on a Wet Afternoon

The Bond Sound: The Music of 007

King Rat

Body Heat

Inside 'From Russia with Love'

The Chase

Love Among the Ruins

Behind the Scenes with 'Thunderball'

Born Free

Frances

UFO: Annihilate SHADO... Kill Straker...

Cry, the Beloved Country

They Might Be Giants

From Russia with Love

Tonight in Person

The World of James Bond

My Life

Dr. No

Harry Saltzman: Showman