Voting Station

Monty Norman

Please vote to return to collections.

Composer

The Resume

    (April 14, 1928-July 11, 2022)
    Born in London, United Kingdom
    Birth name was Monty Noserovitch
    Singer in the bands of Cyril Stapleton and Ted Heath
    With various collaborators, wrote the musicals 'Make Me an Offer' (1958), 'Irma La Douce' (1958), 'Expresso Bongo' (1958), 'Songbook' (1979), and 'Poppy' (1982)
    Composed scores for the films 'The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll' (1960), 'The Day the Earth Caught Fire' (1961), 'Dr. No' (1962), and 'Call Me Bwana' (1963)
    Composed the 'James Bond Theme'

Why he might be annoying:

    His wife, actress Diana Coupland, called him 'the worst piano player in the world.'
    He was reluctant to compose the score for 'Dr. No' until producers Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli offered to pay to fly him and his wife to Jamaica, where location shooting was taking place. ('I figured even if Dr. No turned out to be a stinker, at least we'd have sun, sea, and sand to show for it.')
    The producers were dissatisfied with his original version of the James Bond Theme and hired John Barry to rearrange it, resulting in Barry frequently being miscredited as the composer.
    He was also replaced by Barry as composer for the subsequent Bond films.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was nominated for two Tonys for Best Book of a Musical, for 'Irma La Douce' (1961) and 'Songbook' (1981).
    He won two libel suits against newspapers crediting Barry with writing the James Bond Theme.
    In court, he demonstrated how the 'James Bond Theme' developed from 'Bad Sign, Good Sign,' a song he originally wrote for an unproduced musical based on V.S. Naipaul's novel 'A House for Mr. Biswas.'
    He created one of the most instantly recognizable movie themes.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 57 Votes: 47.37% Annoying