John Barry

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BIRTHDAY

November 03, 1933

York, England, United Kingdom

RECENT CREDITS

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (FILM) May. 1, 2009

Burn After Reading (FILM) Sep. 12, 2008

Madagascar (FILM) May. 27, 2005

The Jacket (FILM) Mar. 4, 2005

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (FILM) Aug. 15, 2003

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BIOGRAPHY

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A former rock'n'roll performer and producer, John Barry has created the jazz-oriented scores for several of the James Bond films ranging from "Dr. No" (1962) to "The Living Daylights" (1987). The son of a classical pianist and a movie theater owner, he was born Jonathan Barry Prendergast. After service in the military, during which he took a correspondence course in music composition, Barry began his career with The John Barry Seven, a group that performed back-up for singer Adam Faith. By 1960, he had branched out into film composition with "Beat Girl/Wild for Kicks" (1960) which starred Faith. He earned his first two Academy Awards for his booming score and title song to "Born Free" (1966). Much of Barry's film work reflects his earlier leanings but he is equally at home with less contemporary settings, as evidenced by the striking, award-winning music for "The Lion in Winter" and the lushly romantic scores for "The Dove" (1974), "Somewhere in Time" (1980), the Oscar-winning Best Pictures "Out of Africa" (1985) and "Dances With Wolves" (1990). He continued in the same vein with his music for "Swept From the Sea" (1997).

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