Ken Thorne

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Ken Thorne
Repetities Unicef Gala Ken Thorne, Bestanddeelnr 927-1109 (cropped).jpg
Thorne in 1974.
Background information
Born
Kenneth Thorne

(1924-01-26)26 January 1924
Dereham, Norfolk, England
Died9 July 2014(2014-07-09) (aged 90)
West Hills, California, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)Composer, conductor, arranger
Instrument(s) Piano, organ

Kenneth Thorne (26 January 1924 – 9 July 2014) was an English composer, conductor, and arranger. He was known for his film and television scores, particularly his collaborations with director Richard Lester. He won an Academy Award for his work on 1965 film version of the musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum , and was also a Grammy and Emmy Award nominee. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Thorne was born in Dereham, Norfolk. He 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, [2] under Sidney Campbell and Harold Darke. [3]

Film scoring career

Thorne began composing scores for films in 1948.

When Henry Mancini was scoring Blake Edwards's 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).

From the 1980s, Ken Thorne mainly focused on his work for TV, working predominantly with director Kevin Connor.

His television work included the theme to the 1964 BBC series R3 , and he also scored incidental music for The Persuaders! and The Zoo Gang in the 1970s. His later work included the score for the miniseries Return to Lonesome Dove in 1993.

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. [4]

With Richard Lester

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). The latter earned him an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment.

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. [3]

Conducting and arranging

Thorne also worked as a conductor, orchestral arranger and music coordinator for other composers. He orchestrated Donovan and Riz Ortolani's score for Franco Zeffirelli's Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1973). [5] [6] He also worked on the scores for Green Ice (1981), 3 Ninjas (1992), The King and I (1999) and U-571 (2000).

Death

Thorne died at a hospital in West Hills, California, on 9 July 2014. [7]

Selected filmography

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ↑ "Ken Thorne". Television Academy. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  2. ↑ Ken Thorne. supermancinema.co.uk 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  3. 1 2 "An Interview with Ken Thorne | CapedWonder Superman Imagery" . Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  4. ↑ Warwick, Neal, Brown, Tony & Kutner, Jon The Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles and Albums 2004 Omnibus Press
  5. ↑ American Film Institute Catalogue: Brother Sun Sister Moon - Music Credits on afi.com
  6. ↑ Brother Sun Sister Moon - Ken Throne conductor and arranger as shown in the credits at the conclusion of the film on archive.org
  7. ↑ "PASSINGS: Ken Thorne, Ben Pesta". Los Angeles Times. 13 July 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  8. ↑ American Film Institute Catalogue: Brother Sun Sister Moon - Music Credits - Ken Thorne conductor, arranger & music coordinator on afi.com
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