Residence West Hills, California Spouse Linda Hayes (m. 1973) Role Film Score Composer | Name Ken Thorne | |
Children Jennifer Coplin, Emily Thorne, Claire Thorne Similar People Richard Lester, Tom Mankiewicz, Alexander Courage, John Williams, Ron Jones |
Ken Thorne
Kenneth "Ken" Thorne (26 January 1924 – 9 July 2014) was a British television and film score composer.
Contents
- Ken Thorne
- In the tyrol by ken thorne on beatles help lp from 1965
- Early life
- Film scoring
- Death
- Awards and nominations
- References
In the tyrol by ken thorne on beatles help lp from 1965
Early life
Thorne was born in East Dereham, a town in the English county of Norfolk. Thorne began his musical career as a pianist with the big bands of England during the 1940s, playing at night clubs and the dance halls. At age 27, Thorne decided to seriously study composition with private tutors at Cambridge and later studied the organ for five years in London.
Film scoring
Thorne began composing scores for films in 1948. He was considered Richard Lester's composer of choice since their first work together on It's Trad, Dad! (1962), Help! (1965) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966).
When Henry Mancini was scoring Blake Edwards' 1968 film The Party with Peter Sellers, Thorne composed the soundtrack to Inspector Clouseau. He also composed the music scores for How I Won the War (1967), The Monkees movie Head (1968), The Magic Christian (1969) and The Ritz (1976). He was also hired for Richard Lester's films Superman II and III with instructions to reuse the themes composed by John Williams from the first film and adapt them for the sequels, also adding some original work. From the 1980s, Ken Thorne mainly focused on his work for TV, working predominantly with director Kevin Connor.
Thorne also had an unexpected chart hit in 1963 when his cover version of Angelo Francesco Lavagnino's "Theme from The Legion's Last Patrol" (Concerto Disperato) reached #4 in the UK charts.
Death
Thorne died at a hospital in West Hills, California on 9 July 2014.