Sound

Carl Davis

Born October 28, 1936 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Died August 3, 2023 · aged 86

Carl Davis was an American music composer and conductor for film and television. He was the driving force behind the reinvention of the silent movie for this generation and wrote the score to some of the most loved and remembered British television dramas. Davis was a conductor and composer of symphonic works, as well as a notable writer for the ballet.

Known For

Frankenstein Unbound

Frankenstein Unbound · 1990

Frankenstein Unbound

MovieHorrorScience Fiction

The ultimate weapon, claimed to be safe for mankind, produces global side-effects including time slides and disappearances. The scientist behind the project and his car are zapped from the year 2031 to 1817 in Switzerland where he meets Dr. Victor Frankenstein, Mary Shelley and others.

Liberation

Liberation · 1994

MovieDocumentaryWar

A retrospective that begins in 1942, when Adolf Hitler was still at the height of his power and the Allies began envisioning a cross-channel invasion of Europe. By combining film footage, period music, and radio broadcasts from around the world, this film illuminates the strategies and deceptions of the combatants on all sides.

Florence Foster Jenkins

Florence Foster Jenkins · 2016

Florence Foster Jenkins

MovieComedyDrama

The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.

I, Monster

I, Monster · 1971

MovieHorrorScience Fiction

Christopher Lee stars in this Amicus production of “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” where the names have been changed to Dr. Marlowe and Mr. Blake. Lee as Dr. Marlowe experiments with intravenous drugs that are suppose to release inner inhibitions. So comes forth Mr. Blake (also Lee) who gets more monstrous with each transformation. Peter Cushing plays his friend and colleague, Dr. Utterson.

Widows' Peak

Widows' Peak · 1994

MovieComedyThriller

Scandal and mystery reign following the arrival of Edwina in a small Irish town populated entirely by widows. Edwina quickly falls out with the locals while also falling in with the son of the community's leader

The French Lieutenant's Woman

The French Lieutenant's Woman · 1981

The French Lieutenant's Woman

MovieDramaRomance

In this story-within-a-story, Anna is an actress starring opposite Mike in a period piece about the forbidden love between their respective characters, Sarah and Charles. Both actors are involved in serious relationships, but the passionate nature of the script leads to an off-camera love affair as well. While attempting to maintain their composure and professionalism, Anna and Mike struggle to come to terms with their infidelity.

The Greatest Store in the World

The Greatest Store in the World · 1999

The Greatest Store in the World

MovieDramaFamily

Geraldine and her two daughters, Livvie and Angeline, are living rough on the streets on London. When their van blows up, they must find an alternative place to stay. At first, they live in temporary housing, but the conditions are unbearable. Geraldine reacts quickly and the family decides to take up residence in Scottley's, the best department store in London. They must keep it a secret from doorman Brian (whom the girls call Mr. Whiskers), and a couple of bumbling thieves who want to rob the store safe of its jewels.

Man Friday

Man Friday · 1975

MovieAdventureComedy

Englishman Robinson Crusoe, stranded alone on an island for years, is overjoyed to find a fellow man, a black islander whom he names Friday. But Crusoe cannot overcome the shackles of his own heritage and upbringing and is incapable of seeing Friday as anything other than a savage who needs Crusoe's brand of cultural and religious enlightenment. Friday attempts to share his own more generous and unashamed culture, but ultimately realizes that Crusoe can never see him as anything but an inferior being. With that awareness, Friday sets out to turn the tables on Crusoe.

Filmography

Sort

Frankenstein Unbound

Frankenstein Unbound · 1990

Frankenstein Unbound

MovieHorrorScience Fiction

The ultimate weapon, claimed to be safe for mankind, produces global side-effects including time slides and disappearances. The scientist behind the project and his car are zapped from the year 2031 to 1817 in Switzerland where he meets Dr. Victor Frankenstein, Mary Shelley and others.

Original Music Composer

Liberation

Liberation · 1994

MovieDocumentaryWar

A retrospective that begins in 1942, when Adolf Hitler was still at the height of his power and the Allies began envisioning a cross-channel invasion of Europe. By combining film footage, period music, and radio broadcasts from around the world, this film illuminates the strategies and deceptions of the combatants on all sides.

Original Music Composer

Florence Foster Jenkins

Florence Foster Jenkins · 2016

Florence Foster Jenkins

MovieComedyDrama

The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.

Orlando Adams

I, Monster

I, Monster · 1971

MovieHorrorScience Fiction

Christopher Lee stars in this Amicus production of “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” where the names have been changed to Dr. Marlowe and Mr. Blake. Lee as Dr. Marlowe experiments with intravenous drugs that are suppose to release inner inhibitions. So comes forth Mr. Blake (also Lee) who gets more monstrous with each transformation. Peter Cushing plays his friend and colleague, Dr. Utterson.

Original Music Composer

Widows' Peak

Widows' Peak · 1994

MovieComedyThriller

Scandal and mystery reign following the arrival of Edwina in a small Irish town populated entirely by widows. Edwina quickly falls out with the locals while also falling in with the son of the community's leader

Original Music Composer

The French Lieutenant's Woman

The French Lieutenant's Woman · 1981

The French Lieutenant's Woman

MovieDramaRomance

In this story-within-a-story, Anna is an actress starring opposite Mike in a period piece about the forbidden love between their respective characters, Sarah and Charles. Both actors are involved in serious relationships, but the passionate nature of the script leads to an off-camera love affair as well. While attempting to maintain their composure and professionalism, Anna and Mike struggle to come to terms with their infidelity.

Original Music Composer

The Greatest Store in the World

The Greatest Store in the World · 1999

The Greatest Store in the World

MovieDramaFamily

Geraldine and her two daughters, Livvie and Angeline, are living rough on the streets on London. When their van blows up, they must find an alternative place to stay. At first, they live in temporary housing, but the conditions are unbearable. Geraldine reacts quickly and the family decides to take up residence in Scottley's, the best department store in London. They must keep it a secret from doorman Brian (whom the girls call Mr. Whiskers), and a couple of bumbling thieves who want to rob the store safe of its jewels.

Original Music Composer

Man Friday

Man Friday · 1975

MovieAdventureComedy

Englishman Robinson Crusoe, stranded alone on an island for years, is overjoyed to find a fellow man, a black islander whom he names Friday. But Crusoe cannot overcome the shackles of his own heritage and upbringing and is incapable of seeing Friday as anything other than a savage who needs Crusoe's brand of cultural and religious enlightenment. Friday attempts to share his own more generous and unashamed culture, but ultimately realizes that Crusoe can never see him as anything but an inferior being. With that awareness, Friday sets out to turn the tables on Crusoe.

Original Music Composer

The Naked Civil Servant

The Naked Civil Servant · 1975

The Naked Civil Servant

MovieDramaComedy

Story of the life of Quentin Crisp, an Englishman who was brave enough to live his life according to his own style even in the hostile days of WW2.

Original Music Composer

Goodnight, Mister Tom

Goodnight, Mister Tom · 1998

Goodnight, Mister Tom

MovieDramaHistory

A shy and quiet World War II evacuee is housed by a disgruntled old man, and they soon develop a close bond.

Original Music Composer

King David

King David · 1985

MovieActionAdventure

This is a movie about the life of Israel's king David.

Original Music Composer

The Girl in a Swing

The Girl in a Swing · 1988

The Girl in a Swing

MovieDramaThriller

A London art broker goes to Copenhagen where he requires the services of a secretary fluent in Danish, English, and German. He falls deeply in love with the woman, despite the fact that he knows virtually nothing about her. She insists on not being married in a church, and after they are married, some bad things from her past begin surfacing in subtly supernatural ways, and he must find the best way to deal with them without destroying their relationship.

Original Music Composer

Topsy-Turvy

Topsy-Turvy · 1999

MovieDramaMusic

For nearly a decade, Gilbert and Sullivan’s collaborations have delighted the English people. But in 1884, as a London heat wave cuts into the theater trade, their latest work, "Princess Ida", receives lukewarm press. In an effort to reconcile their creative differences and drawing inspiration from Japanese culture, they went on to create the hit opera "The Mikado", one of the duo's greatest successes.

Original Music Composer

Scandal

Scandal · 1989

MovieDramaHistory

An English bon-vivant osteopath is enchanted with a young exotic dancer and invites her to live with him. He serves as friend and mentor, and through his contacts and parties she and her friend meet and date members of the Conservative Party. Eventually a scandal occurs when her affair with the Minister of War goes public, threatening their lifestyles and their freedom.

Original Music Composer

The Sea

The Sea · 1978

An East Anglian village is wrought by hierarchy as two lovers attempt to break free of it whilst a draper struggles with the domineering Mrs Rafi.

Music

Garbo

MovieDocumentary

An original documentary from Turner Classic Movies, Garbo offers an intimate look at the life and career of the movies' most luminous, reclusive and mystifying star. A portrait of Garbo the woman is drawn through interviews with biographers and admirers, plus many of the friends, relatives and associates who came closest to penetrating the lonely star's veil of solitude.

Orchestrator

The National Health

The National Health · 1973

The National Health

Peter Nichols adapted his own hit play to the screen, based on his experiences in hospitals. A riotous black comedy that's as timely today as ever, it contrasts the appalling conditions in a overcrowded London hospital with a soap opera playing on the televisions there. In an ingenious touch, the same actors appear in the "real" story as well as the "TV" one, thus blurring the distinctions even further. Jack Gould directs such outstanding British actors as Lynn Redgrave, Colin Blakely, Eleanor Bron, Jim Dale, Donald Sinden, Mervyn Johns, and, in only his second film, Bob Hoskins. The renowned Carl Davis composed the score.

Original Music Composer

The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice · 1973

The Merchant of Venice

MovieDramaTV Movie

An Edwardian take on the Shakespeare play starring Laurence Olivier.

Original Music Composer

Ethel & Ernest

Ethel & Ernest · 2016

MovieAnimationDrama

This hand drawn animated film, based on the award winning graphic novel by Raymond Briggs, is an intimate and affectionate depiction of the life and times of his parents, two ordinary Londoners living through extraordinary events.

Original Music Composer

An Audience with Charles Dickens

An Audience with Charles Dickens · 1996

An Audience with Charles Dickens

A live recording from the Vaudeville Theatre in London where Simon Callow recreates the reading performances of Charles Dickens.

Music

Lie Down with Lions

Lie Down with Lions · 1994

Lie Down with Lions

MovieAdventureRomance

Doctor Peter Husak introduces the American Jack Carver to his friend, nurse Kate, and it's love on first sight. But when she learns, in a dramatic incident, that Jack's a C.I.A. agent, she leaves him and marries Husak instead. Together, they go into a war area in Nagorny Karabach for a relief organization.

Original Music Composer

Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces

Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces · 2000

Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces

MovieDocumentaryTV Movie

Lon Chaney, the silent movie star and makeup artist, renowned for his various characterizations and celebrated for his horror films, becomes the subject of this documentary.

Music

Fast Hands

Fast Hands · 1976

MovieTV MovieDrama

Jimmy is a talented young boxer. Every punch he throws is eagerly watched by his trainer, and resented by his girlfriend. His parents, however, aren't particularly interested – until a large car and what appears to be a handsome contract arrive at the door.

Theme Song Performance

Shuttlecock

Shuttlecock · 1976

MovieDramaTV Movie

Sam likes his children to be grown-up chaps. So nine-year-old Harry is at a disadvantage in the battle of wits that develops...

Theme Song Performance

Screen Two

Screen Two · 1985

Series of single made-for-television dramas.

Original Music Composer

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice · 1995

Pride and Prejudice

Set in England in the early 19th century, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of Mr and Mrs Bennet's five unmarried daughters after the rich and eligible Mr Bingley and his status-conscious friend, Mr Darcy, have moved into their neighbourhood. While Bingley takes an immediate liking to the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane, Darcy has difficulty adapting to local society and repeatedly clashes with the second-eldest Bennet daughter, Elizabeth.

Original Music Composer

The Play on One

The Play on One · 1988

The Play on One

A series of television plays, some original, some based on pre-existing plays or novels.

Original Music Composer

Upstairs Downstairs

Upstairs Downstairs · 2010

Upstairs Downstairs

Set in 1936, the show takes viewers, old and new, back to the lavish world of Belgravia, London. A new set of occupants reside at 165 Eaton Place and viewers see how external and internal influences of the tumultuous pre-war period shape and mould the lives of this wealthy family and their servants.‬

Original Music Composer

A Year in Provence

A Year in Provence · 1993

A Year in Provence

SeriesDramaComedy

Annie and Peter Mayle decide, in their own words, to take the plunge: they quit their jobs as a tax investigator and an advertising executive and move to Provence in the south of France. Their first month goes from outstanding to downright puzzling: while they adore the food and wine, they encounter amusing cultural barriers.

Original Music Composer

Cranford

Cranford · 2007

A rich and comic drama about the people of Cranford, a small Cheshire town on the cusp of change in the 1840s. Adapted from the novels by Elizabeth Gaskell.

Original Music Composer

The World at War

The World at War · 1973

The World at War

SeriesDocumentaryWar & Politics

A documentary series that gives a historical account of the events of World War II, from its roots in the 1920s to the aftermath and the lives it profoundly influenced.

Original Music Composer

The Queen's Nose

The Queen's Nose · 1995

The Queen's Nose

Children's series about a magic coin that can grant wishes.

Choral Plant

Hollywood

Hollywood · 1980

SeriesDocumentary

A 1980 documentary series exploring the establishment and development of the Hollywood studios and its impact on 1920s culture.

Music

War & Peace

War & Peace · 1972

SeriesDramaWar & Politics

The love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov is interwoven with the Great Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon's invading army.

Music

Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer · 1980

Spanning 1938 to 1953, theoretical physicist Robert Oppenheimer leads the effort to develop the atom bomb during the Second World War. When revealed, his work initially makes him a hero in the United States, but an ever-changing world soon sees him recast as a security risk.

Original Music Composer

Private Schulz

Private Schulz · 1981

SeriesCrimeComedy

Private Schulz is a six-part 1981 television comedy-drama serial written by Jack Pulman and produced for BBC Two. It stars Michael Elphick in the title role, with Ian Richardson, Tony Caunter, Billie Whitelaw, Billy Murray, and Mark Wingett. Set primarily in Germany, during and immediately following World War II, fraudster and petty criminal Gerhard Schulz is forced to serve in the SS. In a story based on the real, though unrealised, plot by the Germans known as Operation Bernhard, Schulz tricks the Nazis into making counterfeit British £5 notes, millions of which will be used to destroy the British economy.

Pianist at Salon Kitty (uncredited)

The Far Pavilions

The Far Pavilions · 1984

The Far Pavilions

SeriesDramaAction & Adventure

Adapted from M.M. Kaye's best-selling novel, this dramatic HBO miniseries follows two star-crossed lovers -- the young British officer Ash (Ben Cross) and the betrothed princess Anjuli (Amy Irving) -- as they face daunting odds in their quest to be together. Set in India during the time of the British Raj, this haunting (and BAFTA-nominated) love story features spectacular scenery and an epic saga of battle, treachery and intrigue.

Original Music Composer

A Dance to the Music of Time

A Dance to the Music of Time · 1997

A Dance to the Music of Time

SeriesComedyDrama

A Dance to the Music of Time is a four-part adaptation of Anthony Powell's 12-volume novel sequence that aired on Channel 4 in 1997. The series is a sharp, comic portrait of upper-class and bohemian England, spanning almost a century, from the early 1920s to modern times.

Original Music Composer

The Mayor of Casterbridge

The Mayor of Casterbridge · 1978

The Mayor of Casterbridge

The Mayor of Casterbridge is a 1978 BBC seven-part serial based on the eponymous 1886 book by the British novelist Thomas Hardy. The six-hour drama was written by dramatist Dennis Potter and directed by David Giles, with Alan Bates as the title character. Michael Henchard, an out-of-work hay-trusser, gets drunk at a fair and, for five guineas, sells his wife and child to a sailor. When the horror of his act finally sets in, Henchard swears he will not touch alcohol for twenty-one years. Through hard work and acumen, he becomes rich, respected, and eventually the mayor of Casterbridge. But eighteen years after his fateful oath, his wife and daughter return to Casterbridge, and his fortunes steadily decline.

Original Music Composer

Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights · 1978

Wuthering Heights

Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.

Original Music Composer

Prince Regent

Prince Regent · 1979

Prince Regent is a British period television series that first aired on the BBC in 1979. It depicted the life of George IV from his youth, time as Prince Regent and his reign as King. It consists of eight episodes of 50 minutes.

Original Music Composer

Our Mutual Friend

Our Mutual Friend · 1976

Our Mutual Friend

After his father's will stipulates he must marry Bella Wilfer to inherit his fortune, John Harmon fakes his death to avoid the marriage and the threats on his life. He returns as John Rokesmith and becomes the secretary for the Boffins, who inherit Harmon's estate following his alleged death.

Original Music Composer

Marie Curie

Marie Curie · 1977

BBC mini-series with Jane Lapotaire in the title role. The programme chronicles the work of scientific pioneer Marie Curie as she conducts her research into radioactivity, makes the famous discovery of Radium and wins Nobel Prizes for both Physics and Chemistry. The programme also looks at key events that affected the soon-to-be famous revolutionary including the devastating death of her husband (Nigel Hawthorne) and her subsequent controversial affairs.

Original Music Composer

The Old Curiosity Shop

The Old Curiosity Shop · 1979

The Old Curiosity Shop

The Old Curiosity Shop is a 1979 BBC miniseries based on the novel by Charles Dickens. It was directed by Julian Amyes, and adapted by William Trevor. A kindly shop owner whose overwhelming gambling debts allow a greedy landlord to seize his shop of dusty treasures. Evicted and with no way to pay his debts, he and his granddaughter flee.

Music

The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskervilles · 1982

The Hound of the Baskervilles

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyDrama

When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate. A British television serial based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel.

Original Music Composer

Fair Stood the Wind for France

Fair Stood the Wind for France · 1980

Fair Stood the Wind for France

SeriesAction & AdventureDrama

When John Franklin crash-lands his Wellington bomber in occupied France at the height of the Second World War, he is concerned for the safety of his crew and worried about his own badly injured arm. His crew escapes, but the family of a mill owner risk their lives to hide Franklin in their home until he regains his health. During the following balmy summer months, the pilot's situation is further complicated by his feelings for Francoise, the daughter of the house, but as German patrols move in, his only chance of survival is to flee from France.

Original Music Composer

Oliver's Travels

Oliver's Travels · 1995

Oliver's Travels

SeriesAction & AdventureMystery

Oliver is a middle-aged lecturer in Comparative Religion, with a passion for trivia, crosswords, and anagrams, and a very strange sense of humour. Having been fired from the University of the Rhondda Valley, and with no family ties, he decides to set off on a quest to find 'Aristotle', a setter of crosswords. He teams up with WPC Diane Priest, who has just been suspended for asking too many questions about a local murder that seems to implicate the Chief Constable. Pursued by 'The Man with No Name', the unlikely duo visit Shrewsbury, North Yorkshire, Durham, Hadrian's Wall, and Kirkleven in the Scottish highlands on their journey to find 'Aristotle' in the Orkney Isles.

Original Music Composer

Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow

Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow · 1987

Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow

SeriesDocumentary

A series about the life, career and works of the movie comedy genius.

Original Music Composer