George Fenton Totally Explained

Everything about George Fenton totally explained

ť This article is about the British composer; for other uses, see Fenton.

George Fenton (born October 19, 1950) is a British composer best known for his work writing film scores and music for television, although he also writes music for the theatre.

Selected film and television credits

Fenton has composed the score for over seventy feature films. This is a small selection of his film and television credits.

For a comprehensive filmography see the George Fenton's Internet Movie Database (IMDb) entry link in External links.

Early career

Fenton was born George Richard Ian Howe in London, and attended St Edward's School in Oxford. He has credited the school's Deputy Director of Music at the time, the late Peter Whitehouse, as an early influence. Initially Fenton worked as an actor, getting an early break with a part in Alan Bennett’s play Forty Years On. He had some minor success appearing in the film Private Road, the soap opera Emmerdale Farm and in Alan Bennett’s first television play A Day Out directed by Stephen Frears and broadcast in 1972.
Often asked to play a musical instrument in productions, Fenton decided on an early career switch to composition. In 1974 he got his first major commission, as composer and musical director for Peter Gill's theatre production of Twelfth Night by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. This led to further work in British theatre, composing for productions at: The National Theatre, The Royal Exchange Theatre, The Royal Court, The Riverside Studios, and further compositions for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Television

In 1976 Fenton wrote his first television score, continuing his collaboration with Peter Gill, composing for Gill's production of Hitting Town written by Stephen Poliakoff.
   By the late 1970s Fenton was working regularly in television, becoming a popular choice for dozens of television productions.
   He wrote the compositions for all six of the Six Plays by Alan Bennett which were broadcast during 1978 and 1979. Their collaboration continued with the TV series Objects of Affection in 1982. A year later he composed the score of Bennett's TV film An Englishman Abroad (1983) which was directed by John Schlesinger. Fenton also composed for all of the episodes of Bennett's highly acclaimed Talking Heads series in 1987 and, a decade later, Talking Heads 2 in 1998.
   Fenton also collaborated regularly with the director Stephen Frears, composing for his television productions of Bloody Kids (1979), Going Gently (1981), (1983), and Walter and June (1983).
   By the mid 1980s Fenton was composing for big budget TV series including the multi BAFTA winning The Jewel in the Crown (1984) and the The Monocled Mutineer (1986).
   Perhaps the TV series with which Fenton reached the widest audience was Bergerac which ran for ten years between 1981 and 1991, and for which Fenton composed the much-loved theme tune. He received his first major award for this, a BAFTA in 1982.

Television, wildlife

Fenton has composed for a number of notable wildlife television programmes, often for wildlife broadcaster David Attenborough. He started on the BBC's long running series Wildlife on One and Natural World, and continued with one-off specials such as Polar Bear.
Since 1990 he's written the music for a number of acclaimed big budget wildlife series:

The Trials of Life (1990)

Life in the Freezer (1993)

The Blue Planet (2001)

Deep Blue (2003) (feature length version of The Blue Planet)

Planet Earth (2006) His track record in this genre has placed him firmly as the BBC's composer of choice for its flagship wildlife documentaries.

Television, jingles

Fenton has composed the jingles or theme music to dozens of British television and radio programs, mostly for the BBC. Some of these are; the BBC's One O'Clock News, Six O'Clock News, and Nine O'Clock News, Newsnight and Newsnight Review, The Money Programme, On The Record, Omnibus, Breakfast Time, BBC World Service Television News, Westminster - In The House, Reporting Scotland, London Plus, The Midday News and Telly Addicts.
Films
George Fenton is best known as a composer of film scores. He has written the music for over seventy feature films and has collaborated with some of the most influential film makers of the late 20th century.
   His transition from television to film scoring began in 1982 with Richard Attenborough’s biopic Gandhi for which he was nominated — with his collaborator, Ravi Shankar — for the Original Music Score Academy Award.
   Fenton has regularly written further film scores for Attenborough's movies including: Shadowlands, Cry Freedom, In Love and War, and Grey Owl.
   His long standing collaboration with Stephen Frears hasn't been limited to television productions. Fenton has scored four of Frear's feature films: Dangerous Liaisons, Hero, Mary Reilly, and Mrs Henderson Presents.
   Fenton has scored more feature films for Ken Loach than for any other director; by June 2006, a total of nine. This started in 1994 with Ladybird Ladybird; then, in chronological order: Land and Freedom, Carla's Song, My Name Is Joe, Bread and Roses, The Navigators, Sweet Sixteen, Ae Fond Kiss, and, most recently, The Wind That Shakes the Barley which won the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
   Fenton has developed other long-standing collaborations with film makers, scoring several films each for directors as diverse as: Harold Ramis, Neil Jordan, Nora Ephron, Nicholas Hytner, Phil Joanou, and Andy Tennant. Other influential film makers with whom he's worked include: Terry Gilliam, Pedro Almodóvar, Alan Clarke, Michael Radford, Michael Caton-Jones, Wayne Wang, Richard Eyre, Christopher Hampton, David Fincher, and Charles Sturridge.
Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

1992 Nominated Oscar Best Music, Original Score for: The Fisher King

1989 Nominated Oscar Best Music, Original Score for: Dangerous Liaisons

1988 Nominated Oscar Best Music, Original Score for: Cry Freedom

1988 Nominated Oscar Best Music, Original Song for: Cry Freedom

1983 Nominated Oscar Best Music, Original Score for: Gandhi
BAFTA Awards

2006 Nominated Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music for: Mrs Henderson Presents

2002 Won BAFTA TV Award Best Original Television Music for: The Blue Planet

1996 Nominated Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music for: The Madness of King George

1994 Nominated BAFTA TV Award Best Original Television Music for: Life in the Freezer

1991 Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Original Film Score for: Memphis Belle

1991 Nominated BAFTA TV Award Best Original Television Music for: The Trials of Life

1990 Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Original Film Score for: Dangerous Liaisons

1989 Nominated BAFTA TV Award Best Original Television Music for: Talking Heads

1988 Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Score for: Cry Freedom

1987 Won BAFTA TV Award Best Original Television Music for: The Monocled Mutineer

1985 Nominated BAFTA TV Award Best Original Television Music for: The Jewel in the Crown

1983 Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Score for: Gandhi

1982 Won BAFTA TV Award Best Original Television Music for: Bergerac (Also for: The History Man, Going Gently, the BBC news theme)

1981 Nominated BAFTA TV Award Best Original Television Music for: Shoestring (Also for: Bloody Kids, Fox)
Emmy Awards

2007 Won Emmy Outstanding Music Composition for: Planet Earth

2005 Nominated Emmy Outstanding Music Composition for: Pride

2002 Won Emmy Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for: The Blue Planet
Golden Globes

2000 Nominated Golden Globe Best Original Score - Motion Picture for: Anna and the King

2000 Nominated Golden Globe Best Original Song - Motion Picture for: Anna and the King

1988 Nominated Golden Globe Best Original Score - Motion Picture for: Cry Freedom
Grammy Awards

1989 Nominated Grammy Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television for: Cry Freedom

1984 Nominated Grammy Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special for: Gandhi
Ivor Novello Awards

Nominated Best Film Score for: Anna And The King

Nominated Best Film Score for: Ever After

Won Best Film Score for: Shadowlands

Nominated Best Film Score for: Final Analysis

Won Best Film Score for: Cry Freedom

Nominated Best Film Score for: The Company Of Wolves

Won Best Film Score for: Gandhi

Nominated Best Original TV Music for: The Blue Planet

Won Best Original TV Music for: The Monocled Mutineer

Won Best Original TV Music for: The Jewel In The Crown

Nominated Best Original TV Music for: No Country For Old Men

Nominated Best Original TV Music for: Omnibus

Nominated Best Original TV Music for: Fox

Nominated Best Original TV Music for: Shoestring
The Film & TV Music Awards

2007 Won Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for a Documentary Film or Television Program (Planet Earth) In 2007 Fenton was awarded a fellowship of the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters, which presents the Ivor Novello awards.
Misc.
Fenton founded the Association of Professional Composers which later amalgamated with the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and with the Composers Guild of Great Britain to become the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of Music and is a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music.

Further Information
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