Ron Grainer
Ron Grainer (Born
August 11 1922 in
Atherton,
Queensland,
Australia - died
February 21 1981) was an
Australian-born composer who worked for most of his professional career in the
United Kingdom. He is mostly remembered for his film and television music.
Before the second world-war, he studied music under Sir
Eugene Goosens at the
Sydney Conservatorium of Music, but this was interrupted by
World War II. He was called up to serve in the army on the islands after Japan invaded and Australia sent forces to monitor planes flying over. It was there that a barrel crashed against his leg when he was travelling in a truck and they had to drive over open ground very fast. He managed to get one leg over the tailgate but the other leg was crushed. There were no doctors at the base and he was in terrible pain and unconscious for several days before he was given medical treatment, by then
osteommyelitus had entered the
bone marrow. They wanted to amputate but he couldn't have survived the anaesthetic, so he did not lose his leg but was in and out of hospital for years and received an army disability pension.
Grainer collaborated with the
BBC Radiophonic Workshop on a number of television series themes, including
Giants of Steam (a documentary about railways) and, most famously, the
science fiction series
Doctor Who. Grainer was so impressed with
Delia Derbyshire's realisation of his score (which remained the standard version of the
Doctor Who theme for 18 years) that he is reputed to have said on hearing it, "Did I write that?". He also offered to split his royalty with her, but this was prevented by BBC bureaucracy. Derbyshire was very bitter about this, but blamed the BBC and not Ron himself, who she considered a genius and was something of a svengali to her.
Another famous Grainer-composed theme was for the series
The Prisoner, which was based upon an earlier piece of music Grainer had written entitled "The Age of Elegance".
Perhaps one of his most eclectic film works was the music to
The Omega Man, based upon the book
I am Legend by
Richard Matheson and starring
Charlton Heston. The soundtrack was not released on CD until 2002 in a limited run of 3000 copies through FilmScoreMonthly[
1]. Copies appear on
eBay from time to time, but it is now considered a rarity. The music contains a mix of symphonic, jazz, avantguarde and electronic music.
*
Doctor Who*
Maigret*
Steptoe and Son*
Tales of the Unexpected*
The Prisoner*
Shelley*
That Was The Week That Was*
Paul Temple*
Man in a Suitcase (also used on
TFI Friday)
*
and many moreA Kind of Loving*
The Mouse on the Moon (
1963)
*
The Omega Man*
Only When I Larf*
To Sir, with Love*
and many more*
1964 -
Robert and Elizabeth*
1966 -
On The Level*
1970 -
Sing A Rude Song*
*
Ron Grainer web-site
