# Stanley Myers

Stanley Myers (6 October 1930 – 9 November 1993) was an English composer and conductor, who scored over sixty films and television series, working closely with filmmakers Nicolas Roeg, Jerzy Skolimowski and Volker Schlöndorff. He is best known for his guitar piece "Cavatina", composed for the 1970 film The Walking Stick and later used as the theme for The Deer Hunter. He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music for Wish You Were Here (1987), and was an early collaborator with and mentor of Hans Zimmer.

## Biography

Myers was born in Birmingham, England; as a teenager he went to King Edward's School in Edgbaston, a suburb of Birmingham. He married choreographer Eleanor Fazan.
Myers wrote incidental music for television: for example, The Reign of Terror, a 1964 serial in the television series Doctor Who; the theme to All Gas and Gaiters; and the theme for the BBC's Question Time.
One night in 1966, Myers and Barry Fantoni had called into the Chi Chi club to discuss the music for the movie Kaleidoscope which was to star Warren Beatty and Susannah York. What they were after was a switched-on song they needed for a switched-on intense movie. The resident group called Romeo Z came on and caused the ceiling to shake. There they knew they had the band they wanted, and they got the band to record the song "Kaleidoscope" which appeared in the film and on the soundtrack album which was released on Warner Bros. W 1663 in October 1966
He is known for composing music for the cult horror films House of Whipcord, Frightmare, House of Mortal Sin and Schizo for filmmaker Pete Walker.
The Pink Floyd website credits the brass parts on their 1968 song Corporal Clegg to "The Stanley Myers Orchestra".
Myers is best known for "Cavatina" (1970), an evocative guitar piece, played by John Williams, that served as the signature theme for Michael Cimino's 1978 film The Deer Hunter, and for which Myers won the Ivor Novello Award. A somewhat different version of this work, not performed by Williams, had appeared in The Walking Stick. And yet another version had lyrics added. Cleo Laine and Iris Williams, in separate recordings as He Was Beautiful, helped to make "Cavatina" become even more popular.
During the 1980s, Myers worked frequently with director Stephen Frears. His score for Prick Up Your Ears (1987) won him a "Best Artistic Contribution" award at the Cannes Film Festival. He also scored the film Wish You Were Here and several low budget features (Time Traveller, Blind Date, The Wind, Zero Boys) for director Nico Mastorakis, collaborating with Hans Zimmer. He won another Ivor Novello Award for his soundtrack to The Witches in 1991.
Myers died of cancer aged 63 in Kensington and Chelsea, London.

## Filmography
### Film
#### 1960s

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1966 | Kaleidoscope | Jack Smight | |
| 1967 | Ulysses | Joseph Strick | |
| 1967 | Separation | Jack Bond | |
| 1968 | The Night of the Following Day | Hubert Cornfield | |
| 1968 | No Way to Treat a Lady | Jack Smight | Composed with Andrew Belling |
| 1968 | Otley | Dick Clement | |
| 1969 | Man on Horseback | Volker Schlöndorff | Composed with Peter Sandloff |
| 1969 | Two Gentlemen Sharing | Ted Kotcheff | |
| 1969 | Age of Consent | Michael Powell | Composed with Peter Sculthorpe |

#### 1970s

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1970 | Tropic of Cancer | Joseph Strick | |
| 1970 | The Walking Stick | Eric Till | |
| 1970 | Underground | Arthur H. Nadel | |
| 1970 | Take a Girl Like You | Jonathan Miller | |
| 1970 | Tam-Lin | Roddy McDowall | |
| 1970 | A Severed Head | Dick Clement | |
| 1971 | The Raging Moon | Bryan Forbes | |
| 1972 | X Y & Zee | Brian G. Hutton | |
| 1972 | King, Queen, Knave | Jerzy Skolimowski | |
| 1972 | Sitting Target | Douglas Hickox | |
| 1972 | A Free Woman | Volker Schlöndorff | |
| 1973 | The Love Ban | Ralph Thomas | |
| 1973 | The Blockhouse | Clive Rees | |
| 1973 | Road Movie | Joseph Strick | |
| 1974 | House of Whipcord | Pete Walker | |
| 1974 | Frightmare | Pete Walker | |
| 1974 | Little Malcolm | Stuart Cooper | |
| 1974 | Caravan to Vaccarès | Geoffrey Reeve | |
| 1974 | The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz | Ted Kotcheff | Composed with Andrew Powell |
| 1975 | The Wilby Conspiracy | Ralph Nelson | |
| 1975 | Conduct Unbecoming | Michael Anderson | |
| 1976 | Schizo | Pete Walker | |
| 1976 | House of Mortal Sin | Pete Walker | |
| 1976 | Coup de Grâce | Volker Schlöndorff | |
| 1977 | A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joseph Strick | |
| 1978 | The Greek Tycoon | J. Lee Thompson | |
| 1978 | The Comeback | Pete Walker | |
| 1978 | The Class of Miss MacMichael | Silvio Narizzano | |
| 1978 | The Deer Hunter | Michael Cimino | |
| 1978 | Absolution | Anthony Page | |
| 1979 | The Great Riviera Bank Robbery | Francis Megahy | |
| 1979 | Yesterday's Hero | Neil Leifer | |
| 1979 | A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square | Ralph Thomas | |

#### 1980s

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1980 | Border Cop | Christopher Leitch | |
| 1980 | The Watcher in the Woods | John Hough | |
| 1981 | Lady Chatterley's Lover | Just Jaeckin | Composed with Richard Harvey |
| 1982 | The Incubus | John Hough | |
| 1982 | Moonlighting | Jerzy Skolimowski | |
| 1983 | Eureka | Nicolas Roeg | |
| 1983 | The Honorary Consul | John Mackenzie | |
| 1984 | Success Is the Best Revenge | Jerzy Skolimowski | Composed with Hans Zimmer |
| 1984 | Story of O - Chapter 2 | Éric Rochat | Composed with Hans Zimmer |
| 1984 | Blind Date | Nico Mastorakis | |
| 1984 | The Next One | Nico Mastorakis | |
| 1984 | The Chain | Jack Gold | |
| 1985 | The Lightship | Jerzy Skolimowski | |
| 1985 | Insignificance | Nicolas Roeg | Composed with Hans Zimmer |
| 1985 | My Beautiful Laundrette | Stephen Frears | Composed with Hans Zimmer |
| 1985 | Dreamchild | Gavin Millar | |
| 1986 | Castaway | Nicolas Roeg | |
| 1986 | The Zero Boys | Nico Mastorakis | Composed with Hans Zimmer |
| 1986 | Separate Vacations | Michael Anderson | Composed with Hans Zimmer |
| 1986 | The Wind | Nico Mastorakis | Composed with Hans Zimmer |
| 1987 | The Second Victory | Gerald Thomas | |
| 1987 | Nightmare at Noon | Nico Mastorakis | Composed with Hans Zimmer |
| 1987 | Wish You Were Here | David Leland | Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best Film Music |
| 1987 | Prick Up Your Ears | Stephen Frears | |
| 1987 | The Nature of the Beast | Franco Rosso | Composed with Hans Zimmer |
| 1987 | Sammy and Rosie Get Laid | Stephen Frears | |
| 1988 | Stars and Bars | Pat O'Connor | |
| 1988 | Track 29 | Nicolas Roeg | |
| 1988 | Taffin | Francis Megahy | Composed with Hans Zimmer |
| 1988 | Paperhouse | Bernard Rose | Composed with Hans Zimmer |
| 1988 | The Boost | Harold Becker | |
| 1989 | Torrents of Spring | Jerzy Skolimowski | |
| 1989 | Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills | Paul Bartel | |

#### 1990s

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1990 | Ladder of Swords | Norman Hull | |
| 1990 | The Witches | Nicolas Roeg | Nominated- Saturn Award for Best Music |
| 1990 | Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead | Tom Stoppard | |
| 1991 | Voyager | Volker Schlöndorff | |
| 1991 | Cold Heaven | Nicolas Roeg | |
| 1992 | Claude | Cindy Lou Johnson | |
| 1992 | Sarafina! | Darrell Roodt | Final film score |

### Television

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1961 | ITV Television Playhouse | Episode: "A Resounding Tinkle" |
| 1964 | Doctor Who | 6 episodes "The Reign of Terror" serial |
| 1964 | Diary of a Young Man | 6 episodes |
| 1965–66 | The Wednesday Play | 6 episodes |
| 1967 | Four Tall Tinkles | 4 episodes |
| 1967 | A Series of Bird's | 6 episodes |
| 1969 | World in Ferment | 6 episodes |
| 1970 | Charley's Grants | 6 episodes |
| 1967–71 | All Gas and Gaiters | 31 episodes |
| 1973 | Divorce His, Divorce Hers | Television film |
| 1973–84 | Play for Today | 4 episodes |
| 1974 | Shoulder to Shoulder | Miniseries |
| 1975 | The Legend of Robin Hood | Miniseries |
| 1978 | Summer of My German Soldier | Television film |
| 1980 | The Martian Chronicles | Miniseries |
| 1982 | Nancy Astor | Miniseries |
| 1982–83 | Take Hart | 35 episodes |
| 1983 | A Pattern of Roses | Television film |
| 1983–85 | Widows | 7 episodes |
| 1984 | Diana | 10 episodes |
| 1984 | The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood | Television film |
| 1985 | My Brother Jonathan | 5 episodes |
| 1985 | Black Arrow | Television film |
| 1985 | Florence Nightingale | Television film |
| 1985 | Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill | Television film |
| 1986 | Strong Medicine | Television film |
| 1986 | Monte Carlo | Miniseries |
| 1986 | The Singing Detective | Miniseries |
| 1986 | Nature | Episode: "Pantanal: Prairie of Great Waters" |
| 1986–93 | Screen Two | 6 episodes |
| 1987 | Scoop | Television film |
| 1987 | Pack of Lies | Television film |
| 1987 | Strong Medicine | Television film |
| 1987 | Harry's Kingdom | Television film |
| 1987 | A Wreath of Roses | Television film |
| 1988 | Stones for Ibarra | Television film |
| 1988 | Baja Oklahoma | Television film |
| 1988 | Tidy Endings | Television film |
| 1988 | Christabel | Miniseries |
| 1989 | The Play on One | Episode: "Heartland" |
| 1989 | Danny, the Champion of the World | Television film |
| 1989 | Screenplay | Episode: "A Small Mourning" |
| 1989 | Age-Old Friends | Television film |
| 1990 | Never Come Back | 3 episodes |
| 1991 | A Murder of Quality | Television film |
| 1992 | My Friend Walter | Television film |
| 1992 | Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris | Television film |
| 1993 | Head over Heels | 7 episodes |
| 1993 | Stalag Luft | Television film |
| 1993 | Heart of Darkness | Television film |
| 1994 | Middlemarch | Miniseries Composed with Christopher Gunning BAFTA TV Award for Best Original Music in a Dramatic Programme |