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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Dave Laing

Monty Norman obituary

Monty Norman in 2015. He has been credited by the theatre historian Adrian Wright as the creator of ‘some of the most interesting and provocative scores in British musicals’.
Monty Norman in 2015. He has been credited by the theatre historian Adrian Wright as the creator of ‘some of the most interesting and provocative scores in British musicals’. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

Monty Norman, who has died aged 94, was a prolific contributor to British musicals in the 1950s and 60s, working with directors such as Peter Brook and Joan Littlewood.

Among his successes as a composer, lyricist or both were the musicals Expresso Bongo, Irma La Douce and Make Me an Offer. However, his best known and most lucrative composition was the James Bond theme, the brief staccato phrase written for Dr No in 1962 – and included in subsequent films in the James Bond series.

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