Ron Goodwin

Ronald Alfred Goodwin (17 February 19258 January 2003) was an English composer and conductor known for his film music. He scored over 70 films in a career lasting over fifty years. His most famous works included Where Eagles Dare, Battle of Britain, 633 Squadron, Margaret Rutherford’s Murder, She Said films, and Frenzy. Born in Plymouth, Devon, England, Goodwin learned to play the piano by the age of five and returned to London four years later, where he attended Willesden County Grammar School. Whilst there, he learnt to play the trumpet and performed regularly in the school band. It was here that he formed his own band – Ron Goodwin and the Woodchoppers. and began to broadcast and make records with his Ron Goodwin Concert Orchestra. In 1953, Goodwin began arranging and conducting more than 300 recordings for over fifty performers, which resulted in more than 100 chart successes. He simultaneously made his own series of recordings and broadcasts as Ron Goodwin and his Concert Orchestra, and, in addition, began to compose scores for documentary films at Merton Park Studios. In 1958, Goodwin wrote his first feature film score for Whirlpool, with screenplay by Lawrence P. Bachmann. A