John Barry

 

[1933 - 2011] English composer born in York and one of the most successful with the public. Emblematic themes of music in cinema were composed by him as Born Free (1965), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Somewhere in Time (1980) and the first 007 movies.

 

His involvement with cinema began in childhood: his father owned a network of theaters and the young John Barry even worked as an assistant in projection booths.

Integrating the group of singer Adan Faith, he was invited to compose for the film Beat Girl in 1959, starred by the singer. The arrangement did for the main theme of Dr. No (1962), composed by Monty Norman, started a successful collaboration on the James Bond series. His participation in that series originated a series of anthological soundtracks as Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967) and Diamonds are Forever (1971). Also remarkable in his career, the period dramas as Lion in Winter (1968), The Last Valley (1970), Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) and Robin and Marian (1976). His evocative and lyrical music also scored remarkable films as Walkabout (1971) and The Day of Locust (1974), among many others.

The creative longevity of Barry extended to other beautiful works such as, Body Heat (1981), Frances (1982), High Road to China (1983), Out of Africa (1985), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and Scarlet Letter (1995).