John Addison

Composer

About

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Birth Place

Surrey, England, GB

Born

March 16, 1920

Died

December 07, 1998

Cause of Death

Stroke

Biography

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A versatile, prolific talent who entered films in the late 1940s and quickly proved equally adept at scoring comedy or drama, John Addison hit a creative peak a decade later with the British film renaissance. He composed sprightly classical melodies as well as moody jazz scores for the "Angry Young Men" films of the 1960s, as evidenced by his significant contribution to a goodly number o...

Filmography

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To Die For (1988)

Bride of Boogedy (1987)

Strange Voices (1987)

Agatha Christie's Dead Man's Folly (1986)

Something in Common (1986)

Grace Quigley (1985)

Photos & Videos

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Tom Jones (1963) -- (Movie Clip) Opening, Our Hero

Tom Jones (1963) -- (Movie Clip) Tom and Sophie

Family & Companions

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Pamela Addison

Wife

Survived him.

Notes

Served as a professor for the Royal College of Music.

Biography

A versatile, prolific talent who entered films in the late 1940s and quickly proved equally adept at scoring comedy or drama, John Addison hit a creative peak a decade later with the British film renaissance. He composed sprightly classical melodies as well as moody jazz scores for the "Angry Young Men" films of the 1960s, as evidenced by his significant contribution to a goodly number of Tony Richardson films, including "Look Back in Anger" (1959), "The Entertainer" (1960), "A Taste of Honey" (1961), "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" (1962) and the Oscar-winning, "Tom Jones" (1963).

In the 1970s, Addison relocated to California where he continued to provide scores for such films as "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution" (1976) and Richard Attenborough's WWII-epic "A Bridge Too Far" (1977). The prolific composer found a new outlet in TV, providing the memorable theme to the long-running CBS series "Murder, She Wrote" (1984-96) as well as the scores for a variety of miniseries (e.g., "Centennial," NBC 1978-79; "Ellis Island," CBS 1984) TV-movies (e.g., "A Death in Canaan," CBS 1978), and other series (i.e., "Nero Wolfe," NBC 1981). Addison continued to compose classical pieces as well, including the Bassoon Concertina which had its premiere in Manchester in 1998.

Filmography

Music (Feature Film)

To Die For (1988)

Bride of Boogedy (1987)

Strange Voices (1987)

Agatha Christie's Dead Man's Folly (1986)

Something in Common (1986)

Grace Quigley (1985)

Agatha Christie's 13 At Dinner (1985)

Code Name: Emerald (1985)

Strange Invaders (1983)

I Was a Mail Order Bride (1982)

Eleanor, First Lady of the World (1982)

Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story (1982)

Mistress Of Paradise (1981)

Love's Savage Fury (1979)

Like Normal People (1979)

Highpoint (1979)

The Pilot (1979)

The Power Within (1979)

Death In Canaan (1978)

A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Joseph Andrews (1977)

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)

Swashbuckler (1976)

Ride a Wild Pony (1975)

Dead Cert (1974)

Music comp, Conductor and Arrangements

Cry of the Penguins (1971)

Brotherly Love (1970)

Music comp & Conductor

Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)

Music & Musicic Director

The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)

Music Composition

Smashing Time (1967)

Music comp & Conductor

The Honey Pot (1967)

Smashing Time (1967)

Torn Curtain (1966)

A Fine Madness (1966)

Music comp & Conductor

Time Lost and Time Remembered (1966)

Music comp & Conductor

The Loved One (1965)

Music comp & Conductor

The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965)

Music comp & Conductor

The Model Murder Case (1964)

Music comp & Conductor

Guns at Batasi (1964)

Music comp & Conductor

Girl With Green Eyes (1964)

Music comp & Conductor

Tom Jones (1963)

Music comp & Conductor

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

Music comp, Arrangements & Conductor

A Taste of Honey (1962)

Music comp & Conductor

The Entertainer (1960)

School For Scoundrels (1960)

Look Back in Anger (1959)

Music Supervisor

Man in a Cocked Hat (1959)

All at Sea (1958)

Music Composition

Hell, Heaven or Hoboken (1958)

Lucky Jim (1957)

The Shiralee (1957)

Lucky Jim (1957)

Music Conductor

The Cockleshell Heroes (1956)

Reach for the Sky (1956)

Three Men in a Boat (1956)

Private's Progress (1956)

That Lady (1955)

Touch and Go (1955)

The Black Knight (1954)

Music Composition

Paratrooper (1954)

Music Composition

One Good Turn (1954)

High and Dry (1954)

Make Me an Offer (1954)

Terror on a Train (1953)

Music Composition and Conducting

The Man Between (1953)

The Hour of 13 (1952)

Music Composition and Conducting

Film Production - Construction/Set (Feature Film)

The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)

The Mummy Returns (2001)

Elizabeth (1998)

Velvet Goldmine (1998)

Some Mother's Son (1996)

Memphis Belle (1990)

Mountains of the Moon (1990)

Misc. Crew (Feature Film)

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

The Second Civil War (1997)

Music (Special)

Mr. Boogedy (1986)

Fit for a King (1982)

The Wave (1981)

Please Don't Hit Me, Mom (1981)

Music (TV Mini-Series)

Phantom of the Opera (1990)

Music Conductor

Phantom of the Opera (1990)

Shadow on the Sun (1988)

Ellis Island (1984)

Ellis Island (1984)

The French Atlantic Affair (1979)

The Bastard (1978)

Film Production - Construction/Set (TV Mini-Series)

Gulliver's Travels (1996)

Life Events

1948

First film score for "The Guinea Pig"

1959

First film collaboration with director Tony Richardson, "Look Back in Anger"

1963

Received an Oscar for his musical score for Richardson's "Tom Jones"

1976

Moved to California; began working in television

1976

Scored "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution"

1977

Earned a BAFTA for his music score for the WWII drama "A Bridge Too Far"

1978

Scored the NBC mininseries "Centennial"

1978

Reteamed with Richardson for the TV-movie "A Death in Canaan" (CBS)

1984

Composed the theme for the CBS series "Murder, She Wrote"

1984

Provided the songs and the musical underscoring for the CBS miniseries "Ellis Island"

1989

Final film score, "To Die For", a vampire drama

1990

Settled in Vermont

1990

Scored the NBC mininseries "The Phantom of the Opera"

1998

Premiered his Bassoon Concertina in Manchester, England

Videos

Tom Jones (1963) -- (Movie Clip) Opening, Our Hero The wacky opening to Tony Richardson's Tom Jones 1963, in which Squire Allworthy (George Devine) arrives home and subtitles begin the scandalous story.

Tom Jones (1963) -- (Movie Clip) Tom and Sophie Music, flowers, frolicking and swooning as Sophie (Susannah York) nurses Tom (Albert Finney), recovering from his broken arm, the song titled "Tom And Sophie," from John Addison's Academy Award-winning score, in Tony Richardson's Tom Jones, 1963.

Girl With Green Eyes - (Original Trailer) Young innocent Rita Tushingham gets involved with married man Peter Finch in Girl With Green Eyes (1964).

Shiralee, The - (Original Trailer) An Australian wanderer (Peter Finch) leaves his cheating wife and tries to raise their daughter on the road.

Start the Revolution Without Me - (Original Trailer) Orson Welles introduces the trailer for the Gene Wilder - Donald Sutherland historical farce Start the Revolution Without Me (1970).

Loved One, The - (Original Trailer) Robert Morse heads an all-star cast in the bizarre comedy The Loved One (1965) based on a novel by Evelyn Waugh.

Seven-Per-Cent Solution, The - (Original Trailer) Sherlock Holmes encounters Sigmund Freud and the two become involved in a case in the imaginative pastiche The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976).

Torn Curtain - (Original Trailer) U.S. scientist Paul Newman pretends to defect but is followed behind the Iron Curtain by finacee Julie Andrews in Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain (1966).

Honey Pot, The - (Original Trailer) Rex Harrison plays a millionaire out to fleece former lovers in The Honey Pot (1967) from the writer/director of All About Eve.

Look Back in Anger - (Original Trailer) Richard Burton is playwright John Osborne's original "angry young man" in Tony Richardson's film version of Look Back In Anger (1959).

Bridge Too Far, A - (Original Trailer) Sean Connery, Robert Redford, Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier and an all-star cast are featured in A Bridge Too Far (1977), an epic World War II drama.

Brotherly Love - (Original Trailer) A woman's marriage is destroyed by her incestuous relationship with her brother in Brotherly Love (1970), with Peter O'Toole & Susannah York.

Family

Jill Lucas

Sister

Survived him.

Rex Birchenough

Step-Son

Survived him.

Sandra Stapleton

Step-Daughter

Survived him.

Jonathan Addison

Son

Survived him.

Daniel Addison

Son

Survived him.

Lucinda Sanderson

Daughter

Survived him.

Companions

Pamela Addison

Wife

Survived him.

Bibliography

Notes

Served as a professor for the Royal College of Music.

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