Ron Goodwin

Ron Goodwin

Ronald Alfred Goodwin (17 February 1925, Plymouth, Devon – 8 January 2003, Newbury, Berkshire) was a British composer and conductor known for his film scores.

Life

Ron Goodwin's father was a policeman and he attended Willesden County School and Pinner County Grammar School, in Middlesex. He learned the piano from an early age and studied trumpet in London at the Guildhall School of Music. His first job in music was as copyist and arranger for publishing companies and bands, including some attached to the BBC. Through documentary films he was introduced to music for movies, which he said was "a very good training". He worked as a ghostwriter for Phil Green, Stanley Black, Geraldo and Peter Yorke among others. He later worked as a conductor in recording sessions for popular music artists, including Petula Clark.

In the 1950s he joined Parlophone, and worked alongside George Martin. He accompanied Peter Sellers on his "Goodness Gracious Me" album, and began to broadcast and make records with his Ron Goodwin Concert Orchestra.

Goodwin was guest conductor with orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He usually conducted film music by himself and others, light music, and arrangements of popular music caissons. He also recorded orchestral versions of pop tunes.

Goodwin won three Ivor Novello Awards, including one for lifetime achievement in 1994. He was given honorary Freedom of the City of London.

Goodwin had asthma. He died in 2003 at home having completed conducting Christmas concerts with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Works

Ron Goodwin is known for film music. He worked on more than 60 scores. His first was for documentaries, and his first feature was Whirlpool in 1958, followed television and on the film The Day of the Triffids in 1962. His war films are particularly well remembered. These include Where Eagles Dare (1968), Battle of Britain (1969), for which he replaced William Walton, 633 Squadron and Operation Crossbow. After requests from military bands, the opening from Battle of Britain, originally titled Luftwaffe March, was retitled Aces High.

He also wrote scores for Of Human Bondage (1964), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 film Frenzy (for which he replaced Henry Mancini), and two movies featuring Morecambe and Wise, as well as Norman Wisdom films, including The Early Bird. He composed the music Lancelot and Guinevere (1962). He composed for the four Miss Marple movies, starring Margaret Rutherford, Murder, She Said (1961), Murder at the Gallop (1963), Murder Most Foul (1963) and Murder Ahoy 1964. The 'Miss Marple tune' was released as a single in 1966 and the music from the four films was released on CD in 1992, along with music from Lancelot and Guinevere and Force 10 from Navarone.

He is also remembered for light music compositions, such as The Headless Horseman and the theme for 1966 film The Trap, used by the BBC as theme to London Marathon coverage. Also, the score for Walt Disney's 1975 family film, One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing. Goodwin composed all the music and songs for a series of animated films, that included "The Happy Prince", "The Selfish Giant" and "The Little Mermaid", the first two based on stories by Oscar Wilde, and the last by Hans Christian Andersen. All three films feature original music by Goodwin and songs with moral lessons.

He is also associated with the Yorkshire Television start up music used from the mid 70's to early 80's before ITV had breakfast television.

In 1972 he recorded Somebody Named Ron Goodwin Plays Somebody Named Burt Bacharach.

Personal life

Ron Goodwin was married twice; his second wife is called Heather. He had a son named Chris, a granddaughter called Charlene, and a greatgrandson called Jordan. He had one step-granddaughter called Anna.

Filmography

• A Man with a Gun (1958)
• Whirlpool (1958)
• The Witness (1959)
• I'm All Right Jack (1959)
• The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960)
• Village of the Damned (1960)
• Murder She Said (1961)
• Johnny Nobody (1961)
• Village of Daughters (1961)
• Kill or Cure (1962)
• I Thank a Fool (1962)
• Lancelot and Guinevere (1962)
• Postman's Knock (1962)
• Follow the Boys (1963)
• Murder at the Gallop (1963)
• Ladies Who Do (1963)
• Murder Ahoy (1964)
• Murder Most Foul (1964)
• 633 Squadron (1964)
• Of Human Bondage (1964)
• Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965)
• The Alphabet Murders (1965)
• Operation Crossbow (1965)
• The Trap (1966)
• Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon (1966)
• Magnificent Two (1967)
• Where Eagles Dare (1968)
• Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher (1968)
• Mrs Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1968)
• Monte Carlo or Bust (1969)
• Battle of Britain (1969)
• The Executioner (1970)
• The Selfish Giant (1971)
• Frenzy (1972)
• Gawain and the Green Knight (1973)
• The Little Mermaid (1974)
• The Happy Prince (1974)
• Deadly Strangers (1974)
• One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing (1975)
• Spanish Fly (1975)
• Escape from the Dark (1976)
• Beauty and the Beast (1976)
• Born to Run (1977)
• Force 10 From Navarone (1978)
• The Spaceman and King Arthur (1979)
• Clash of Loyalties (1983)
• Valhalla (1986)

References

• Ades, David 2001. "Goodwin, Ron". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Kennedy, Michael (2006), The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 985 pages, ISBN 0-19-861459-4

External links

• Official website
• Ron Goodwin at IMDb
• Detailed biography at The Robert Farnon Society
• Ron Goodwin on Youtube
• Ron Goodwin on Grooveshark Radio