Thursday, March 31, 2011

Bartolomeu Anania, Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of Cluj-Napoca, Alba Iulia, Crişana and Maramureş (since 1993), died he was , 89


Bartolomeu Anania, (born Valeriu Anania;) was a Romanian Orthodox bishop, translator, writer and poet; he was the Metropolitan of Cluj, Alba, Crişana and Maramureş died he was , 89.


(March 18, 1921 – January 31, 2011)

 Biography

Early life

Anania was born as Valeriu in Glăvile, Vâlcea County, to Vasile Anania and his wife Ana, the daughter of a priest. He attended primary school in Glăvile and entered the Bucharest Central Seminary in 1933.[1]
At the age of 15, Anania, while a student at the Seminary, joined the local organization of the Cross Brotherhood (Frăţia de Cruce), part of the Iron Guard, being introduced to it by an older student.[2] However, he claimed that within the Cross Brotherhood at the Seminary, politics was not discussed and the group was not anti-Semitic, like the rest of the Iron Guard.[3] Anania graduated the Seminary in 1941. That year, he spent three weeks under arrest, being accused of participating at the funeral of a member of the Iron Guard.[4]
In 1942, he was tonsured a monk at the Antim Monastery,[5] graduating from Bucharest's Mihai Viteazul High School the following year.[1] In 1944, Hierodeacon Bartolomeu began studying Medicine and at the Cluj Conservatory, but he was expelled after organizing a student strike against the new communist government of Petru Groza. Afterwards, he continued his studies at the Theology Faculty of the University of Bucharest[4] and the Theological Academies of Cluj and Sibiu, receiving his degree in the latter city in 1948.[1]

Communist era

Anania, accused of being associated with the Iron Guard, was arrested by the Communist authorities in 1958 and incarcerated at the Aiud prison.[6] Another political prisoner at Aiud, Grigore Caraza, accused Anania of having actively participated in the 're-education' of prisoners, a charge categorically denied by Anania.[6]
In August 1964, he was freed and only a few months later, in February 1965, he was sent by the communist regime to become an Archimandrite of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the United States and Canada, where he lived for 12 years, also editing a religious newspaper called Credinţa ("The Faith").[7]
The short time between his release from prison and the time when he was sent to the United States has been seen as a sign that he had links to the Romanian Securitate. This idea has been supported by Ion Mihai Pacepa, who argued in a 1992 book that Archimandrite Bartolomeu was an agent of the External Intelligence department of the Securitate who was sent to the United States to divide the Romanian community.[7][8] Anania has admitted that he signed denunciations against other high-ranking clerics for the Securitate in 1959, but he claims that he was not a collaborator and that these denunciations were made after he was given tea containing a truth drug at the Securitate's Ploieşti headquarters.[9][10]
In 1974, he was recalled to Romania from the United States because of reports which mentioned a possible defection.[8] From 1976 to 1982, he was head of the Church's Biblical and Missionary Institute; afterward, he retreated to Văratec Monastery, where he began retranslating Bible using as source for Old Testament the Septuagint (since the 1930s, Romanian Orthodox Church Bible uses as its reference text the Masoretic Text).[1]

After the 1989 Revolution

On January 21, 1993 he was chosen Archbishop of Vad, Feleac and Cluj. Following a controversial decision of the Holy Synod, in 2006, the archdiocese was elevated to the rank of metropolis, making Archbishop Bartolomeu the first Metropolitan of Cluj, Alba, Crişana and Maramureş.[5][11]
In 1999, after the Church's failed attempt to convince politicians to endorse a proposal to give Senatorial seats to the Orthodox Church Synod's members, Archbishop Bartolomeu made two public requests. The first one was that the Church be able to select parliamentary candidates and then have priests urge parishioners during sermons to vote for them, while the second request repeated the proposal of making the 27-member Synod members of the Senate, arguing that the state was never really separated from the church. A law to this effect was drafted but never brought up for discussion in parliament.[12]
Nevertheless, after the 2000 elections, he reconsidered the involvement of clergymen in politics. In 2004, he made a proposal, which was approved by the Synod, not to allow priests to run in elections, giving an ultimatum to priests currently involved in politics to choose between the priesthood and politics.[13]
In 2007, he was a candidate for the office of Patriarch, but he lost to Daniel Ciobotea, who received from the Church Electoral College 95 votes, against 66 for Bartolomeu.[4] Following unsuccessful treatment in Vienna in early 2011, Anania died in Cluj-Napoca of heart failure and aortic valve stenosis at age 89.[14] He was buried in the hierarchs' crypt beneath the altar of the city's Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral.[15]

Opinions

Metropolitan Bartolomeu was known as a conservative voice within the church. Politically, he asserted that he had always been attracted by the right wing.[3] Voicing disagreement with the Western world, he argued that it is built exclusively on politics and economics, lacking any trace of spirituality, culture or religion. Following the repeal of Article 200 (regarding homosexuality), he decried the Westernization of Romania, claiming that "Europe asks us to accept sex, homosexuality, vices, drugs, abortions and genetic engineering, including cloning".[12]
He also condemned the way in which television stations "manipulate" viewers and use violent programs to "poison the souls of Romanians", arguing that such programs are harming people's personalities and make them unable to tell good from evil.[16]
In 2002, he was among a group of intellectuals who voiced their opposition to the building of a vampire theme park called Dracula Park, claiming that vampires are not a part of Romanian mythology (which instead has other monsters, like Muma Pădurii and zgripţuroaica).[17]
While he supported the neutrality of the Church in politics, in 2007 he did join seven other high-ranking Orthodox clerics in signing an appeal against the decision of the parliament to begin impeachment proceedings against President Traian Băsescu, calling the procedure "immoral politics".[3]
Regarding ecumenism, Bartolomeu argued that unifying all Christians within one Church is a far-fetched goal.[18]
Bartolomeu Anania, as Metropolitan, joined the dispute over the biometric passports, signing in 2009 a public statement (together with all the bishops of his metropolitan see), in which he claimed that the usage of biometric chips in passports is offensive to the Romanian people, whom, he claims, are therefore treated as a potential gang of criminals. He also made clear his worry about the possibility of using microchip implants.[19]

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Charles Kaman, 91, American aeronautical engineer, founder of Kaman Aircraft and Ovation Guitar Company died he was , 91.

Charles Huron Kaman  was an American aeronautical engineer, businessman, inventor and philanthropist, known for his work in rotary-wing flight and also in musical instrument design via the Kaman Music Corporation died he was , 91.

(June 15, 1919 – January 31, 2011)

Biography

Charles Huron Kaman was born in 1919 to Charles William Kaman and Mabel Davis Kaman in Washington, D.C., the son of a construction supervisor. He later attended Catholic University of America, graduating magna cum laude in 1940.[2]

Helicopters

Kaman's first aircraft experience was working for Igor Sikorsky. In 1945, he started his own aircraft company, Kaman Aircraft, to pursue his own designs.[2] In January 1947, the Kaman K-125 helicopter first flew. It utilized intermeshing rotors and Kaman's patented servo-flap stability control.[2] In 1951, the Kaman K-225 also used intermeshing rotors with servo-flap control and was the world's first helicopter to be powered by a gas turbine.[2]

Business

Kaman was an aficionado of the guitar, and in 1966, he founded Ovation Instruments. The company would become the Ovation Guitar Company and developed an acoustic guitar using aerospace composite materials,[3] featuring a rounded back design.[4] He and his second wife, Roberta, created the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation and developed a breed of German Shepherd to act as guide dogs.[2]

Marriage and children

Kaman's first wife was the former Helen Sylvander. They married in 1945 and divorced in 1971. Later in 1971 he remarried, to Roberta Hallock, who died in 2010.[5][6] He had three children: C. William Kaman, II; Steven W. Kaman and Mrs. Cathleen Wood.

Death

Kaman died in Bloomfield, Connecticut, aged 91, on January 31, 2011.[1]

Awards

Kaman was awarded honorary degrees by the University of Connecticut, the University of Hartford, and the University of Colorado.[2] His other honors included:


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Mark Ryan, British musician (Adam and the Ants) died he was , 51.

Mark Ryan was a British guitarist who played in different punk bands during the late 1970s died he was , 51.

(2 March 1959 - 31 January 2011)

He was born in Tottenham, London,[1][4] to an Irish Catholic family, his father was a university lecturer and his mother was trained as a nurse and midwife. Ryan left school at sixteen, working in factories and dedicating to music.[3]

In 1977, after being in a number of experimental punk bands, he joined Adam and the Ants, replacing Lester Square (who was later to form The Monochrome Set), to complete the line-up who debuted live at the ICA restaurant in May, recording Plastic Surgery and a number of demos[5] with the band. After appearing with the band in the Derek Jarman movie Jubilee (1977 film) (released July 5, 1977) Ryan was fired in October of the same year.[6] Subsequently, he joined The Photons, and was involved with The Moors Murderers. The vocalist in both bands was Steve Strange, who later became the singer for Visage. He also was in King, alongside The Damned's Captain Sensible.[7][8]
From 1985-1989 Ryan attended the experimental Dartington College of Arts, earning a Bachelors degree in music in 1989. He turned his interest in performance to the theatre and began a successful career as a writer for the stage based in Cardiff, Wales. He is the author of The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde As Told To Carl Jung By An Inmate Of Broadmoor Asylum, first produced in 1998.
Since the 1990s to his last days, he lived in Heath, Cardiff, Wales.[4]

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Eunice Sanborn, American supercentenarian, world's oldest living person at time of her death was , 114.

Eunice Sanborn was an American supercentenarian who was the oldest verified living person in the world at the time of her death at age 114 years, 195 days. She became the recognized titleholder upon the death of Eugénie Blanchard on November 4, 2010.[2][3] She became one of the 50 verified longest lived people in the United States on March 2, 2010, and one of the 40 undisputed oldest people on January 27, 2011.
Sanborn's family claimed that the Census Bureau erroneously recorded her birth year, and that she was born on July 20, 1895, which would have made her 115 years, 195 days at the time of her death.[4]

(July 20, 1896 – January 31, 2011)[1]

Biography

Sanborn was born Eunice Allen Lyons in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Augustus and Varina Lyons. Her parents were of German and Irish heritage. Eunice Lyons first married in November 1913. Her first husband, Joe Orchin and the father of her daughter, was killed in an accident. In 1937, along with her second husband, Wesley Garrett, she moved to Texas. While in Texas, she was part-founder of Love's Lookout.[5] The two were the first to build a concrete bottom pool in Cherokee County at that time.[5] Her daughter Dorothy, who died in 2005 aged 90, along with her second husband, managed to keep the business going for a long period of time. After he died, Eunice married Grant Sanborn. He died in 1979. Sanborn lived in Jacksonville, Texas,[5] until her death on January 31, 2011.[1]
Although she never worked outside the home, Sanborn kept busy with community activities her entire life. She was an active member of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville and sang in the choir there for many years.[1]
Longtime friend David French — who knew Sanborn since the age of five — and his wife Rena provided 24-hour care so Sanborn could remain in her home.[1]

Longevity records

  • On April 6, 2010, Neva Morris died, and Sanborn (aged 113 years, 260 days) became the oldest verified living person in the United States.
  • On November 4, 2010, Eugénie Blanchard died, and Sanborn (aged 114 years, 107 days) became the oldest verified living person in the world.
  • On November 6, 2010, Sanborn (aged 114 years, 109 days) surpassed Bettie Chatmon to become the oldest verified person from the state of Louisiana.
  • On January 16, 2011, Eunice Sanborn (aged 114 years, 180 days) became one of the 50 verified oldest people.
  • On January 31, 2011, Eunice Sanborn (aged 114 years, 195 days) died as the oldest verified living person at the time and 43rd oldest person in history.

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Charles Sellier, American film and television producer (The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams).died he was , 67

Charles Edward Sellier, Jr.  was an American television producer, screenwriter, novelist and director, best known for creating the American book and television series, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams .died he was , 67.[1] He also wrote and produced more than thirty films and 230 television shows during his career, which spanned four decades.[2]

(November 19, 1943 – January 31, 2011)

Charles Sellier was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on November 9, 1943.[3][4] He was the only son of born to his parents, Charles and Gladys Carson Sellier.[3] His father worked as a shipping clerk.[3] Sellier was born as a Cajun Catholic, later converting to Mormonism and then to evangelical Christianity.[3]
The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, which aired on NBC during the 1978-1979 television season, depicted a character, portrayed by actor Dan Haggerty, who escapes a bounty hunter and rescues a bear cub who becomes his constant companion in the series.[1] Sellier had first introduced the character in his 1972 novel, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, loosely based on the real-life 19th century mountain man, James "Grizzly" Adams.[2] The series was produced by Sunn Classic Pictures, a production company based in Park City, Utah, which Sellier had founded.[2] Sellier also wrote many of the episodes in the series.[2] The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams ran for one season, but was concluded in the 1982 television movie, The Capture of Grizzly Adams, in which Dan Haggerty reprised his role.[2]
Additionally, Sellier wrote and produced more than 230 television shows and thirty feature films during his career.[2] Eleven of Sellier's feature films are included in the top 100 highest-grossing independent films in history, with six of those films ranking in the top twenty-five.[2]
Sellier produced numerous films and television shows, often with Christian themes aimed at family-friendly audiences.[1] His production credits included Mark Twain's America, The Lincoln Conspiracy, In Search of Noah's Ark and Breaking the Da Vinci Code.[1][5] In 1980, Sellier was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on the made-for-television movie, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which starred Jeff Goldblum as Ichabod Crane.[2][6] Sellier was a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Writers Guild of America and National Religious Broadcasters Association.[2]
Sellier was the CEO of Grizzly Adams Prods. at the time of death in 2011.[2] The company markets family-friendly and faith based documentaries, films and television shows.[2] Selliers had recently reached an agreement with Passmorelab of San Diego to convert approximately 500 films and televisions show to 3D for Blu-ray 3D DVDs and 3D television broadcasting.[2]
Sellier died unexpectedly at his home in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on January 31, 2011, at the age of 67.[1][3] He was survived by his wife, Julie Magnuson, whom he had been married for twenty-five years, and a son, William.[3]

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Michael Tolan, American actor (The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Mary Tyler Moore Show), died from heart disease and renal failure he was , 85

Michael Tolan was an American actor died from heart disease and renal failure he was , 85.


(November 27, 1925 – January 31, 2011)

Life and career

Tolan was born Seymour Tuchow in Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit and studied under Stella Adler and at Stanford University.[1] He appeared primarily in stage roles in his early career, with only minor parts in films of the early 1950s. His stage roles include Romanoff and Juliet and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, his Broadway debut. His first film role was in The Enforcer; he also had roles in Fort Worth, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and Presumed Innocent.[1]
He acted mostly on television from the mid-1950s on, including an appearance on the 1960 CBS summer series, Diagnosis: Unknown, a role in The Doctors and the Nurses, and a continuing role as Jordan Boyle on "The Senator" segments of the anthology umbrella TV series The Bold Ones (1970–71). He had a recurring role on three episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and made guest appearances on such television series as Kojak, McMillan and Wife, and Law and Order. His last known television appearance was on an episode of Murder, She Wrote in 1994.
Tolan appeared in the Bob Fosse film All That Jazz (1979) as lead character Joe Gideon's cardiologist, Dr. Ballinger.
Tolan also helped found the American Place Theatre, of which he wrote:

Personal life

Tolan had two marriages, both of which ended in divorce; at the time of his death, he was partnered with Donna Peck, with whom he lived in Ancram, New York.[1] He had previously married actress Rosemary Forsyth on June 28, 1966. The couple had one child and divorced in 1975

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Norman Uprichard, British footballer died he was , 82.

William Norman McCourt Uprichard was a football player for Arsenal, Portsmouth, Swindon Town and Northern Ireland died he was , 82..

(20 April 1928 – 31 January 2011)

Gaelic football career

Uprichard was born in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, and as a teenager played both soccer and Gaelic football. He won a district minor league medal with a GAC, but was subsequently banned by the GAA and told he would not receive his medal because he had signed for Glenavon. The GAA's 'rule 27' prohibited adult members at the time from playing or watching so-called foreign games. Uprichard was finally awarded his medal in 2004.[2]

Association football career

Club career

Uprichard played in goal for Glenavon and later for Distillery before signing for Arsenal in 1948 for £1,500. He never played an Arsenal first-team game, with Ted Platt and George Swindin being higher in the pecking order. He was transferred to Swindon Town in November 1949, later becoming the first choice goalkeeper.[3]
Uprichard was featured in the 2002 book Swindon Town Football Club 100 Greats by Richard (Dick) Mattick, a book that lists the 100 Swindon Town players that Mattick considered to be greatest. The 1952–53 season was his last at Swindon before his transfer to Portsmouth in November 1952.
Uprichard was Eddie Lever's first signing as Pompey manager.[4] He was later followed by Derek Dougan from Distillery. Uprichard played nearly 200 first-team games for Portsmouth in seven seasons. He later played for Southend United, Hastings United and Ramsgate Athletic.

International career

Uprichard was awarded 18 senior international caps for Northern Ireland, the first coming against Scotland in 1951. He played in the 1958 World Cup Finals in Sweden alongside Billy Bingham, Jimmy McIlroy and Danny Blanchflower. Despite sustaining a broken hand and an ankle injury, he kept the Czechoslovakia attack at bay in a play-off win which secured Northern Ireland a quarter-final berth.[5]
His final game for Northern Ireland was, like his first, against Scotland, in November 1958. Norman died on Monday the 31st January 2011 after a long illness.


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Doc Williams, American country music performer died he was , 96.

Doc Williams  was an influential American country music band leader and vocalist died he was , 96..[1]

(June 26, 1914 – January 31, 2011)

Born as Andrew John Smik, Jr. in Cleveland, Ohio,[1] and raised in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, he got his professional start playing with the Kansas Clodhoppers during the early 1930s. Doc eventually formed his own band, Doc Williams and the Border Riders. The group went on the air on WWVA Wheeling in 1937; soon, with the addition of comedian Froggie Cortez and cowboy crooner, Big Slim the Lone Cowboy, and became one of the station's most popular attractions.[citation needed]
In 1939, Williams married Jessie Wanda Crupe, a singer who soon adopted the stage name Chickie Williams (February 13, 1919 – November 18, 2007). The Williams' were popular performers. Although the couple and their band the Border Riders recorded, performed live and appeared on the radio for over five decades, they never had a national hit. Doc Williams founded Wheeling Records in 1947 and through it released all of his and his wife's albums; occasionally, they sang together, and sometimes with their three daughters. Among his best-known songs are "Willie Roy the Crippled Boy" and "My Old Brown Coat And Me".[1]
Williams died on January 31, 2011 in Wheeling, West Virginia, aged 96.[2]

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John Barry, British film score composer (From Russia with Love, Chaplin, Out of Africa), five-time Academy Winner died he was , 77

John Barry Prendergast, OBE was an English film score composer died he was , 77. He was best known for composing 11 James Bond soundtracks and was hugely influential on the musical style of the 007 series, along with the general feeling of the films.
In a career spanning almost 50 years, Barry received numerous awards for his work, including five Academy Awards; two for Born Free, and one each for The Lion in Winter (for which he also won a BAFTA Award), Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves (for which he also won a Grammy Award) and the theme of Somewhere in Time (1980) (Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Score - Motion Picture).[1]
(3 November 1933 – 30 January 2011)

Career

Barry was born John Barry Prendergast, in York, England and was the son of a musically talented mother and a charismatic Irish father.[2][3] He was raised in and around cinemas in Northern England.[4]
His father, Jack Xavier Prendergast, from Cork, was a projectionist during the silent movie era who ended up owning a chain of movie theaters across northern England.[4] Often, while watching a film, Barry would note with pen and paper, what worked or what did not.[3]
His childhood background in movies influenced Barry's music interests.[2]


Although originally a classical pianist, Barry also learned the trumpet and grew interested in composing and arranging music. During his National Service in Cyprus, he began performing as a musician. After taking a correspondence course (with jazz composer Bill Russo) and working as an arranger for the Jack Parnell and Ted Heath’s Orchestra[5] he formed his own band in 1957, The John Barry Seven,[6] with whom he had some hit records, including "Hit and Miss", the theme tune he composed for the BBC's Juke Box Jury programme, a cover of the Ventures' "Walk Don't Run", and a cover of the theme for the United Artists Western The Magnificent Seven. The career breakthrough for Barry was the BBC television series Drumbeat, when he appeared with The John Barry Seven and arranged for many of the singers, including Adam Faith; he also composed songs (along with Les Vandyke) and scores for films in which Faith was featured. When Faith made his first film, Beat Girl, in 1960, Barry composed, arranged and conducted the score, his first. His music was later released as the first soundtrack album on LP in the UK.[7] Barry also composed the music for another Faith film, Never Let Go, orchestrated the score for Mix Me a Person, and composed, arranged and conducted the score for The Amorous Prawn.

Barry was employed by the EMI record company from 1959 until 1962 arranging orchestral accompaniment for the company's recording artists. From 1962, Barry transferred to Ember Records where he produced albums as well as arranging them.[8]
These achievements caught the attention of the producers of a new film called Dr. No who were dissatisfied with a theme for James Bond given to them by Monty Norman. Barry was hired and the result was one of the most famous signature tunes in film history, the "James Bond Theme". (Credit goes to Monty Norman, see below.) When the producers of the Bond series engaged Lionel Bart to score the next James Bond film From Russia with Love, they discovered that Bart could neither read nor write music. Though Bart wrote a title song for the film, the producers remembered Barry's arrangement of the James Bond Theme and his composing and arranging for several films with Adam Faith. Lionel Bart also recommended Barry to producer Stanley Baker for his film Zulu.[9] Bart and Barry worked together in the film Man in the Middle.
This was the turning point for Barry, and he went on to become one of the most celebrated film composers, winning five Academy Awards and four Grammy Awards, with scores for, among others, The Lion in Winter, Midnight Cowboy, Born Free, and Somewhere in Time.[1]
Barry was often cited as having had a distinct style which concentrated on lush strings and extensive use of brass. However he was also an innovator, being one of the first to employ synthesizers in a film score (On Her Majesty's Secret Service), and to make wide use of pop artists and songs in Midnight Cowboy. Because Barry provided not just the main title theme but the complete soundtrack score, his music often enhanced the critical reception of a film, notably in Midnight Cowboy, King Kong, Out of Africa, and Dances with Wolves.
One of Barry's best known compositions is the theme for the 1971 TV series The Persuaders!, also known as "The Unlucky Heroes", in which Tony Curtis and Roger Moore were paired as rich playboys solving crimes. The score for the series was composed by Ken Thorne. The theme went on to be a hit single in some European countries and has been re-released on collections of 1970s disco hits. The instrumental recording features Moog synthesizers. Barry also wrote the scores to a number of musicals, including Passion Flower Hotel (lyrics by Trevor Peacock), the successful West End show Billy (lyrics by Don Black) and two major Broadway flops, The Little Prince and the Aviator and Lolita, My Love, the latter with Alan Jay Lerner as lyricist.
Barry's work began to be sampled in the 1990s by artists such as Dr. Dre and Wu-Tang Clan, with his "James Bond Theme" being sampled by performers as diverse as Bonobo, Gang Starr and Junior Reid. Fatboy Slim used the opening guitars from "Beat Girl (Main Title)" for "Rockafeller Skank" from his 1998 album, You've Come A Long Way, Baby. The Sneaker Pimps also sampled "Golden Girl" on their 1996 single "6 Underground". Additionally, "You Only Live Twice" was heavily sampled on "Millennium" from Robbie Williams' second album, I've Been Expecting You.[10]
In 2002, Barry was named an Honorary Freeman of the City of York.[11]
During 2006, Barry was the executive producer on an album entitled Here's to the Heroes by the Australian ensemble The Ten Tenors. The album features a number of songs Barry wrote in collaboration with his lyricist friend, Don Black. Barry and Black also composed one of the songs on Shirley Bassey's 2009 album, The Performance. The song entitled, "Our Time is Now", is the first written by the duo for Bassey since "Diamonds Are Forever".[12]

James Bond series

After the success of Dr. No, Barry scored eleven of the next 14 James Bond films (but with Monty Norman continually credited as the composer of the "James Bond Theme").[13]

In his tenure with the film series, Barry's music, variously brassy and moody, appealed to film aficionados. For From Russia With Love he composed "007", an alternative James Bond signature theme, which is featured in four other Bond films (Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, Moonraker). The theme "Stalking", for the teaser sequence of From Russia With Love, was covered by colleague Marvin Hamlisch for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). (The music and lyrics for From Russia With Love's title song were written by Lionel Bart, whose musical theatre credits included Oliver!). Barry also (indirectly) contributed to the soundtrack of the 1967 spoof version of Casino Royale: his Born Free theme appears briefly in the opening sequence.
In Goldfinger, he perfected the "Bond sound", a heady mixture of brass, jazz and sensuous melodies. There is even an element of Barry's jazz roots in the big-band track "Into Miami", which follows the title credits and accompanies the film's iconic image of the camera lens zooming toward the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach.
As Barry matured, the Bond scores concentrated more on lush melodies, as in Moonraker and Octopussy. Barry's score for A View to a Kill was traditional, but his collaboration with Duran Duran for the title song was contemporary and one of the most successful Bond themes to date, reaching number one in the United States and number two in the UK Singles Chart. Both A View to a Kill and the Living Daylights theme by a-ha blended the pop music style of the artists with Barry's orchestration. In 2006, a-ha's Pal Waaktaar complimented Barry's contributions "I loved the stuff he added to the track, I mean it gave it this really cool string arrangement. That's when for me it started to sound like a Bond thing".[14]
Barry's last score for the Bond series was 1987's The Living Daylights, Dalton's first film in the series with Barry making a cameo appearance as a composer in the film. Barry was intended to score Licence to Kill but was recovering from throat surgery at the time and it was considered unsafe to fly him to London to complete the score. The score was completed by Michael Kamen.[15]
David Arnold, a British composer, saw the result of two years' work in 1997 with the release of Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project, an album of new versions of the themes from various James Bond films. Arnold thanks Barry in the sleeve notes, referring to him as "the Guvnor". Almost all of the tracks were John Barry compositions, and the revision of his work met with his approval – he contacted Barbara Broccoli, producer of the upcoming Tomorrow Never Dies, to recommend Arnold as the film's composer.[16] Arnold also went on to score the subsequent Bond films: The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.
Sole compositional credit for the "James Bond Theme" is attributed to Monty Norman, who was contracted as composer for Dr. No. Some 30 years later, in 2001, the disputed authorship of the theme was examined legally in the High Court in London after Norman sued The Sunday Times for publishing an article in 1997 in which Barry was named as the true composer; Barry testified for the defense.[17][18]
In court, Barry declared he had been handed a musical manuscript of a work by Norman (meant to become the theme) and that he was to arrange it musically, and that he composed additional music and arranged the "James Bond Theme". The court was also told that Norman received sole credit because of his prior contract with the producers. Barry said that a deal was struck whereby he would receive a flat fee of £250 and Norman would receive the songwriting credit.[19] Barry said that he had accepted the deal with United Artists Head of Music Noel Rogers because it would help his career. Despite these claims the jury ruled unanimously in favour of Norman.[19]
On 7 September 2006, John Barry publicly defended his authorship of the theme on the Steve Wright show on BBC Radio 2.[20]

Personal life

Barry was educated at St Peter's School, York, and also received composition lessons from Francis Jackson, Organist of York Minster.[2]
Barry moved to California in 1970 as a tax exile, with a British judge accusing him of emigrating to avoid paying £134,000 due the Inland Revenue.[5] The matter was resolved in the late 1980s and Barry was able to return to the UK.[5] He subsequently lived for many years in the United States, mainly in Oyster Bay, New York, on Long Island, from 1980.[2]
Barry suffered a rupture of the oesophagus in 1988, following a toxic reaction to a health tonic he had consumed. The incident rendered him unable to work for two years and left him vulnerable to pneumonia.[21]
Barry was married four times. His first three marriages, to Barbara Pickard (1959–1963); Jane Birkin (1965–1968); and Jane Sidey (1969–1971), all ended in divorce.[5] He was married to Laurie from 1976[5] until his death. The couple had a son, Jonpatrick. Barry had three daughters from previous liaisons: Susie, Sian and Kate.[2]
Barry died of a heart attack on 30 January 2011 at his Oyster Bay home aged 77 years.[22][23] He is survived by Laurie, his wife of 33 years, and by his four children and five grandchildren. There was a private funeral service, and a memorial service is expected to be held later in 2011 in the United Kingdom.[22][24]

Awards and nominations

Five Academy Awards
Academy Award nominations
Grammy Award
  • 1969 Best Instrumental Theme for Midnight Cowboy[26]
  • 1985 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band for The Cotton Club[26]
  • 1986 Best Instrumental Composition for Out of Africa[26]
  • 1991 Best Instrumental Composition Written For A Motion Picture Or For Television for Dances with Wolves[26]
BAFTA Award
  • 1968 Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music for The Lion in Winter[27]
BAFTA Fellowship Award
BAFTA nominations
  • 1986 Best Score for Out of Africa[29]
  • 1991 Best Original Score for Dances with Wolves[30]
Emmy Award nominations
  • 1964 Outstanding Achievement in Composing Original Music for Television for Elizabeth Taylor in London (a 1963 television special)[31]
  • 1977 Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Special (Dramatic Underscore) for Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years[31]
Max Steiner Lifetime Achievement Award (presented by the City of Vienna)
Lifetime Achievement Award from World Soundtrack Academy (presented at the Ghent Film Festival)
  • 2010
Barry was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1998.[13]
The American Film Institute ranked Barry's score for Out of Africa #15 on their list of the greatest film scores. His scores for the following films were also nominated:

Discography

Film scores



Bond films

Barry worked on the soundtracks for the following Bond films:

Musicals

Television themes

Other works

Hit singles

(Excludes co-composed hits, e.g. Duran Duran's A View to a Kill)
  • "Hit And Miss" as The John Barry Seven plus Four, UK#10 (first charted 1960)
  • "Beat For Beatniks" as The John Barry Orchestra, UK#40 (1960)
  • "Never Let Go" as The John Barry Orchestra, UK#49 (1960)
  • "Blueberry Hill" as The John Barry Orchestra, UK#34 (1960)
  • "Walk Don't Run" as The John Barry Seven, UK#11 (1960)
  • "Black Stockings" as The John Barry Seven, UK#27 (1960)
  • "The Magnificent Seven" as The John Barry Seven, UK#45 (1961)
  • "Cutty Sark" as The John Barry Seven, UK#35 (1962)
  • "The James Bond Theme" as The John Barry Orchestra, UK#13 (1962)
  • "From Russia With Love" as The John Barry Orchestra, UK#39 (1963)
  • "Theme From 'The Persuaders'" as John Barry, UK#13 (1971)
The 4 highest-charting hits all spent more than 10 weeks in the UK top 50.



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