Stanley Myers

Stanley Myers (6 October 1930  – 9 November 1993) was a British film composer who scored over sixty films. He also wrote the guitar piece "Cavatina".

Biography

Myers was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England; as a teenager he went to King Edward's School in Edgbaston, a suburb of Birmingham.

Myers wrote incidental music for television: for example, The Reign of Terror, a 1964 serial in the television series Doctor Who; the theme to All Gas and Gaiters; and the theme for the BBC's Question Time.

He is known for composing music for the cult horror films House of Whipcord, Frightmare, House of Mortal Sin and Schizo for filmmaker Pete Walker.

He is best known for "Cavatina" (1970), an evocative guitar piece that served as the signature theme for Michael Cimino's 1978 film The Deer Hunter, and for which Myers won the Ivor Novello Award. A somewhat different version of this work, performed by John Williams, had appeared in The Walking Stick. And yet another version had lyrics added. Cleo Laine and Iris Williams, in separate recordings as He Was Beautiful, helped to make "Cavatina" become even more popular.

During the 1980s, Myers worked frequently with director Stephen Frears. His score for Prick Up Your Ears (1987) won him a "Best Artistic Contribution" award at the Cannes Film Festival. He also scored several low budget features (Time Traveler, Blind Date, The Wind, Zero Boys) for director Nico Mastorakis, collaborating with Hans Zimmer. He won another Ivor Novello Award for his soundtrack to The Witches in 1991.

Myers died of cancer aged 63 in Kensington and Chelsea, London.

Filmography

• Kaleidoscope (1966)
• Ulysses (1967)
• Separation (1967)
• No Way to Treat a Lady (1968)
• Otley (1968)
• The Night of the Following Day (1968)
• Michael Kohlhaas – der Rebell (1969)
• Age of Consent (1969)
• Two Gentlemen Sharing (1969)
• Tropic of Cancer (1970)
• The Walking Stick (1970)
• Underground (1970)
• Tam-Lin (1970)
• A Severed Head (1970)
• Take a Girl Like You (1970)
• The Raging Moon (1971)
• Zee and Co. (1972)
• Sitting Target (1972)
• King, Queen, Knave (1972)
• Divorce His, Divorce Hers (1973)
• The Love Ban (1973)
• The Blockhouse (1973)
• House of Whipcord (1974)
• Little Malcolm (1974)
• Caravan to Vaccarès (1974)
• Frightmare (1974)
• The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)
• The Wilby Conspiracy (1975)
• Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
• House of Mortal Sin (1975)
• Coup de Grâce (1976)
• Schizo (1976)
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1977)
• The Greek Tycoon (1978)
• The Comeback (1978)
• Absolution (1978)
• The Deer Hunter (1978)
• The Class of Miss MacMichael (1979)
• Yesterday's Hero (1979)
• The Great Riviera Bank Robbery (1979)
• A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
• Border Cop (1979)
• The Martian Chronicles (1980)
• The Watcher in the Woods (1980)
• Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981)
• The Incubus (1982)
• Moonlighting (1982)
• Eureka (1983)
• The Honorary Consul (1983)
• Success Is the Best Revenge (1984)
• Blind Date (1984)
• The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood (1984)
• The Chain (1984)
• Black Arrow (1985)
• Insignificance (1985)
• Dreamchild (1985)
• My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
• The Lightship (1986)
• Castaway (1986)
• Strong Medicine (1986)
• The Second Victory (1987)
• Prick Up Your Ears (1987)
• Wish You Were Here (1987)
• Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987)
• Taffin (1988)
• Stars and Bars (1988)
• Paperhouse (1988)
• The Boost (1988)
• Track 29 (1988)
• Danny, the Champion of the World (1989)
• Torrents of Spring (1989)
• Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989)
• The Witches (1990)
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
• Voyager (1991)
• Cold Heaven (1991)
• Sarafina! (1992)

External links

• Stanley Myers at IMDb