Monty Norman, composer of the James Bond musical theme, instantly recognizable, has died at the age of 94. A statement on its website said: “We sadly share the news that Monty Norman died on July 11, 2022 after a brief illness.”
Norman’s most famous play was created as part of the soundtrack to Bond’s first film, Dr. No, which premiered in 1962, and starred Sean Connery in the lead role. Norman said he based the distinctive phrase, which first appeared as part of a medley during the film’s opening, on an earlier piece called Good Sign, Bad Sign, which he created for a musical adaptation of A House for Mr Biswas by VS Naipul. A jazz arrangement by John Barry for the film caused Barry to be often mistakenly identified in the composer; Norman went to court, winning a defamation suit against the Sunday Times in 2001, to defend his credit.
Norman, born Monty Noserovitch in 1928, grew up the son of Jewish immigrants in London’s East End and became a singer in numerous major popular bands in the 1950s and early 1960s. He began writing songs for musicals in late 1950s, contributing lyrics to Make Me an Offer (a musical version of Irma la Douce’s West End), and both music and lyrics to Wolf Mankowitz’s Expresso Bongo.
He also worked on the musical Belle in 1961, about Crippen’s notorious murders, which led Bond producer “Cubby” Broccoli to ask him for the score for Dr. No. Subsequent screen work included Bob Hope’s comedy Call Me Bwana and the 1976 television series Dickens of London. Norman also returned to musicals, most notably Songbook in 1979, about a fictional Liverpool composer named Mooney Shapiro, who arrives on Broadway before returning to Britain in time for the 1960s.
Norman was the first husband of actor Diana Coupland, best known for the 1970s sitcom Bless This House, who died in 2006.