Reply #311: Composer John Barry, 77. [View All]

[CBHagman]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/movies/01barry.html?_r=1

Although he won Oscars for his work on “The Lion in Winter” (1968), “Out of Africa” (1985) and “Dances With Wolves” (1990), he was known first and foremost as the resident composer for most of the Bond films.

The musical template he established was as much a part of the films as Bond’s double entendres, Q’s gadgetry and Miss Moneypenny’s flirtatious repartee. The films began with a catchy song performed by a pop star, its themes picked up and reprised throughout the movie, most effectively in the tense transitions when Bond moved from one exotic location to the next or prepared to execute a choice bit of spycraft.

His role in composing the most famous Bond music of all, the theme that has been a signature of the films since “Dr. No” (1962), remains unclear. When he took credit for the theme in an interview with The Sunday Times of London in 1997, the original composer hired for the film, Monty Norman, successfully sued the newspaper for libel, asserting that Mr. Barry had only done the orchestration.