John Barry

As a tribute to the late John Barry, professional musician Tim Mottershead takes an in-depth look at John Barry’s contribution to the James Bond films.

The sad news of John Barry’s death from a heart attack has been announced this morning on the BBC website. The short article notes: His arrangement of Monty Norman’s James Bond theme led to him composing scores for 11 films in the series, among them Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice. Read Composer John Barry […]

Having become the first film series to reach its 25th anniversary, the Bond franchise had to yet again reinvent itself after Roger Moore’s decision not to return for the fifteenth 007 adventure.  Whilst Timothy Dalton became the fourth actor to take on the role of James Bond, after the series’ recent success the producers were […]

For Roger Moore’s seventh and final outing as James Bond, he was once again reunited with director John Glen and composer John Barry.  1985’s A View To A Kill was the fourteenth 007 movie and, once again, the series followed a pattern of turning from serious spy movies (For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy) to […]

After the success of James Bond’s twelfth adventure, For Your Eyes Only, Roger Moore and director John Glen were reunited in 1983 for Bond’s new adventure, Octopussy. And, for the first time since 1979’s Moonraker, legendary composer John Barry was able to rejoin the team to provide the score for the thirteenth 007 adventure. Octopussy […]

Due to a high level of taxation in the UK at the time, the production of James Bond XI was primarily moved to France.  In addition to the construction of some of the biggest ever sets that France had seen, the relocation of Moonraker to the continent also meant that John Barry could return to […]

After the success of Roger Moore’s debut as James Bond in Live and Let Die, the English actor returned in 1974 to film the ninth instalment of the 007 series, The Man With The Golden Gun.  Based on Fleming’s novel – the last written before his death in 1964 – Bond heads to Asia to […]

James Bond producers Harry Saltzmann and Cubby Broccoli decided to change direction for the seventh movie in the series, Diamonds Are Forever.

With Sean Connery having already announced that he was leaving his role as James Bond, and with a new director, Peter Hunt, on board, it was clear that the sixth film in the Bond franchise was going to differ markedly from the previous efforts. John Barry, who had by this time won an Oscar for […]

After the stunning commercial success of Thunderball, Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman initially turned to Ian Fleming’s novel On Her Majesty’s Secret Service for the fifth instalment in the film franchise. However, problems with finding suitable locations for the book’s wintry setting led them to turn to Fleming’s twelfth novel, You Only Live Twice. With […]