Carl Davis Dies: ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’, ‘Pride And Prejudice’ & Silent Film Composer Was 86
deadline.comAmerican-born conductor and composer Carl Davis, who had lived in the UK since 1961, has died in Oxford aged 86. BAFTA-winner Davis composed music for more than 100 TV programmes, created new scores for the concert performance of silent movies, and wrote many ballet and concert works.
He was best known for his work on hit BBC TV series Pride & Prejudice (1995), starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, and movies including The French Lieutenant’s Woman (for which he won a BAFTA), starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons, and Florence Foster Jenkins, also starring Streep.
Davis, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1936, also provided the original music for popular UK documentary history series The World At War (1973) for Thames Television and conducted the BBC’s theme song for their coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
In the late 1970s, Davis was commissioned to create music for a restored version of Abel Gance’s silent epic Napoleon. By the early 90s, his reputation made him the number one choice for new scores to silent films.
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