Stanley Myers
{{Short description|English composer and conductor (1930–1993)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Stanley Myers
| image = Composer_Stanley_Myers.jpg
| birth_date = 6 October 1930
| birth_place = Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1993|11|09|1930|10|06}}
| death_place = Kensington and Chelsea, London, England
| background = non_performing_personnel
| genre = Film score
| occupation = Composer, conductor
| associated_acts = Hans Zimmer
| spouse = Eleanor Fazan
}}Stanley Myers (6 October 1930{{spaced ndash}}9 November 1993) was an English composer and conductor,{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=Virgin Books|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|pages=887–8}} who scored over sixty films and television series, working closely with filmmakers Nicolas Roeg, Jerzy Skolimowski and Volker Schlöndorff.{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9fd2b139|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528042901/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9fd2b139|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 May 2016|title=Stanley Myers|work=BFI}} He is best known for his guitar piece "Cavatina", composed for the 1970 film The Walking Stick and later used as the theme for The Deer Hunter.{{cite web|url=http://www.classicfm.com/composers/myers/music/deer-hunter/#kzPSwhWx30zaI1sy.97|title=Stanley Myers: The Deer Hunter|date=22 August 2014|work=Classic FM}} He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music for Wish You Were Here (1987), and was an early collaborator with and mentor of Hans Zimmer.
Biography
Myers was born in Birmingham, England; as a teenager he went to King Edward's School in Edgbaston, a suburb of Birmingham.Nicolas Roeg, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-stanley-myers-1503929.html Obituary: Stanley Myers], The Independent, Saturday, 13 November 1993 He married choreographer Eleanor Fazan.
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.{{cite web|url=http://www.tv.com/people/stanley-myers-1/|title=Stanley Myers|website=TV.com|publisher=CBS Interactive}}{{cite web|url=https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/deer-hunter-other-themes/id382833088|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822090631/https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/deer-hunter-other-themes/id382833088|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 August 2016|title=The Deer Hunter and Other Themes|date=5 March 2001 |publisher=iTunes Store}}
One night in 1966, Myers and Barry Fantoni had called into the Chi Chi club to discuss the music for the movie Kaleidoscope which was to star Warren Beatty and Susannah York. What they were after was a switched-on song they needed for a switched-on intense movie. The resident group called Romeo Z came on and caused the ceiling to shake. There they knew they had the band they wanted, and they got the band to record the song "Kaleidoscope" which appeared in the film and on the soundtrack album which was released on Warner Bros. W 1663 in October 1966Kaleidoscope THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM (Amazon) - [https://www.amazon.com/Stanley-Myers-Kaleidoscope-Warner-Records/dp/B00U2SUGAO Back cover notes by Stanley Myers]Cash Box, 22 October 1966 - [https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1966/CB-1966-10-22.pdf Page 38 ALBUM REVIEWS, POP BEST BETS]
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.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cg6BCgAAQBAJ&q=stanley+myers+pete+walker&pg=PA129|title=Uneasy Dreams|page=129|isbn=9780786426614|last1=Smith|first1=Gary A.|date=8 March 2006|publisher=McFarland }}{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6acb3d65|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309121401/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6acb3d65|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 March 2016|title=House of Whipcord (1974)|website=Bfi.org.uk}}
The Pink Floyd website credits the brass parts on their 1968 song Corporal Clegg to "The Stanley Myers Orchestra".{{cite web |title=Musicians (Studio) |url=http://www.pinkfloyd.com/music/musicians_studio.php |publisher=Pink Floyd Music (1987) Limited |access-date=26 January 2019}}
Myers is best known for "Cavatina" (1970), an evocative guitar piece, played by John Williams, 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, not performed by 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.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8SRjwJqwukC&q=stanley+myers+prick+up+your+ears+cannes&pg=PR37|title=Historical Dictionary of British Cinema|isbn=9780810880269|last1=Burton|first1=Alan|last2=Chibnall|first2=Steve|date=11 July 2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press }} He also scored the film Wish You Were Here{{cite web|work=The New York Times|title=Wish You Were Here (1987) FILM: 'WISH YOU WERE HERE'|author-link=Janet Maslin|first=Janet|last=Maslin|date=24 July 1987|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0DE3DA1630F937A15754C0A961948260}} and several low budget features (Time Traveller, 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831050858/http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp|url-status=dead|title=Findmypast.com|archive-date=31 August 2009}}
Filmography
= Film =
== 1960s ==
| class="wikitable" | |
| Year | Title
!Director !Notes |
|---|---|
| 1966 | Kaleidoscope
| |
| rowspan="2" | 1967 | Ulysses
| |
| Separation
| | |
| rowspan="3" |1968
|The Night of the Following Day | | |
| No Way to Treat a Lady
|Composed with Andrew Belling | |
| Otley
| | |
| rowspan="3" | 1969 | Man on Horseback
|Composed with Peter Sandloff |
| Two Gentlemen Sharing
| | |
| Age of Consent
|Composed with Peter Sculthorpe |
== 1970s ==
| class="wikitable" | |
| Year | Title
!Director !Notes |
|---|---|
| rowspan="6" | 1970 | Tropic of Cancer
| |
| The Walking Stick
| | |
| Underground
|Arthur H. Nadel | | |
| Take a Girl Like You
| | |
| Tam-Lin
| | |
| A Severed Head
| | |
| 1971
| | |
| rowspan="4" |1972
| | |
| King, Queen, Knave
| | |
| Sitting Target
| | |
| A Free Woman
| | |
| rowspan="3" |1973
| | |
| The Blockhouse
|Clive Rees | | |
| Road Movie
| | |
| rowspan="5" |1974
| rowspan="2" |Pete Walker | | |
| Frightmare
| | |
| Little Malcolm
| | |
| Caravan to Vaccarès
| | |
| The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
|Composed with Andrew Powell | |
| rowspan="2" |1975
| | |
| Conduct Unbecoming
| | |
| rowspan="3" |1976
| rowspan="2" |Pete Walker | | |
| House of Mortal Sin
| | |
| Coup de Grâce
| | |
| 1977
|A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | | |
| rowspan="5" |1978
| | |
| The Comeback
| | |
| The Class of Miss MacMichael
| | |
| The Deer Hunter
| | |
| Absolution
| | |
| rowspan="3" |1979
|The Great Riviera Bank Robbery |Francis Megahy | | |
| Yesterday's Hero
| | |
| A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
| |
== 1980s ==
| class="wikitable" | |
| Year | Title
!Director !Notes |
|---|---|
| rowspan="2" |1980
|Christopher Leitch | | |
| The Watcher in the Woods
| | |
| 1981
|Composed with Richard Harvey | |
| rowspan="2" |1982
| | |
| Moonlighting
| | |
| rowspan="2" |1983
| | |
| The Honorary Consul
| | |
| rowspan="5" |1984
| rowspan="2" |Composed with Hans Zimmer | |
| Story of O - Chapter 2 | |
| Blind Date
| rowspan="2" |Nico Mastorakis | | |
| The Next One
| | |
| The Chain
| | |
| rowspan="4" |1985
| | |
| Insignificance
| rowspan="2" |Composed with Hans Zimmer | |
| My Beautiful Laundrette | |
| Dreamchild
| | |
| rowspan="4" |1986
| | |
| The Zero Boys
| rowspan="3" |Composed with Hans Zimmer | |
| Separate Vacations | |
| The Wind | |
| rowspan="6" |1987
| | |
| Nightmare at Noon
|Composed with Hans Zimmer | |
| Wish You Were Here
|Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best Film Music | |
| Prick Up Your Ears
| | |
| The Nature of the Beast
|Composed with Hans Zimmer | |
| Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
| | |
| rowspan="5" |1988
| | |
| Track 29
| | |
| Taffin
|Francis Megahy | rowspan="2" |Composed with Hans Zimmer | |
| Paperhouse | |
| The Boost
| | |
| rowspan="2" |1989
| | |
| Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills
| |
== 1990s ==
| class="wikitable" | |
| Year | Title
!Director !Notes |
|---|---|
| rowspan="3" |1990
|Ladder of Swords |Norman Hull | | |
| The Witches
|Nominated- Saturn Award for Best Music | |
| Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
| | |
| rowspan="2" |1991
| | |
| Cold Heaven
| | |
| rowspan="2" |1992
|Cindy Lou Johnson | | |
| Sarafina!
|Final film score |
= Television =
| class="wikitable" | |
| Year | Title
!Notes |
|---|---|
| 1961
|ITV Television Playhouse |Episode: "A Resounding Tinkle" | |
| rowspan="2" |1964
|6 episodes | |
| Diary of a Young Man
| rowspan="2" |6 episodes | |
| 1965–66 | |
| rowspan="2" |1967
|Four Tall Tinkles |4 episodes | |
| A Series of Bird's
| rowspan="3" |6 episodes | |
| 1969
|World in Ferment | |
| 1970 | |
| 1967–71
|31 episodes | |
| 1973
|Television film | |
| 1973–84
|4 episodes | |
| 1974
| rowspan="2" |Miniseries | |
| 1975 | |
| 1978
|Television film | |
| 1980
| rowspan="2" |Miniseries | |
| 1982 | |
| 1982–83
|35 episodes | |
| 1983
|Television film | |
| 1983–85
|7 episodes | |
| rowspan="2" |1984
|10 episodes | |
| The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood
|Television film | |
| rowspan="4" |1985
|5 episodes | |
| Black Arrow
| rowspan="4" |Television film | |
| Florence Nightingale | |
| Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill | |
| rowspan="4" |1986 | |
| Monte Carlo
| rowspan="2" |Miniseries | |
| The Singing Detective | |
| Nature
|Episode: "Pantanal: Prairie of Great Waters" | |
| 1986–93
|6 episodes | |
| rowspan="5" |1987
| rowspan="8" |Television film | |
| Pack of Lies | |
| Strong Medicine | |
| Harry's Kingdom | |
| A Wreath of Roses | |
| rowspan="4" |1988
|Stones for Ibarra | |
| Baja Oklahoma | |
| Tidy Endings | |
| Christabel | |
| rowspan="4" |1989
|The Play on One |Episode: "Heartland" | |
| Danny, the Champion of the World
|Television film | |
| Screenplay
|Episode: "A Small Mourning" | |
| Age-Old Friends
|Television film | |
| 1990
|Never Come Back |3 episodes | |
| 1991
| rowspan="3" |Television film | |
| rowspan="2" |1992 | |
| Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris | |
| rowspan="3" | 1993 | Head over Heels
|7 episodes |
| Stalag Luft
| rowspan="2" |Television film | |
| Heart of Darkness | |
| 1994
|Miniseries BAFTA TV Award for Best Original Music in a Dramatic Programme |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|4368}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20160528042901/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9fd2b139 Stanley Myers] at the British Film Institute
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Myers, Stanley}}
Category:20th-century English classical musicians
Category:20th-century English composers
Category:20th-century English male musicians
Category:Deaths from cancer in England
Category:English film score composers
Category:English male film score composers
Category:English male television composers
Category:English television composers
Category:Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands
Category:People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham