Archive
BAFTA Nominations 2001
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominations for the 55th British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2001.
In the Best Original Music category, which is named in memory of the film director Anthony Asquith, the nominees are:
- CRAIG ARMSTRONG and MARIUS DE VRIES for Moulin Rouge!
- ANGELO BADALAMENTI for Mulholland Drive
- HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS and JOHN POWELL for Shrek
- HOWARD SHORE for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- YANN TIERSEN for Amélie
These are the first nominations for Badalamenti, Gregson-Williams, Powell, and Tiersen. It is the second nomination for Armstrong, the second nomination for De Vries, and the second nomination for Shore. Armstrong and De Vreis previously won for William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet in 1997.
The winners of the 55th BAFTA Awards will be announced on February 24, 2002.
Remembering Ken Darby, 1909-1992
Composer, arranger, conductor and choral director Ken Darby died at his home in Sherman Oaks, California, ten years ago today, on January 24, 1992, at the age of 82, following a history of heart problems.
One of Hollywood’s most accomplished specialists in vocal and musical arranging, Darby won three Academy Awards for The King and I, Porgy and Bess and Camelot, and contributed to such classics as The Wizard of Oz, Pinocchio, South Pacific and How the West Was Won.
Kenneth Lorin Darby was born in Hebron, Nebraska, on May 13, 1909, and moved with his family to California as a child. He began studying piano at five and trumpet at nine, later receiving private instruction in harmony, counterpoint and composition. While attending college he earned money playing piano and organ in cinemas showing silent films, giving him an early practical understanding of the relationship between music and images.
In 1929 Darby formed the male vocal quartet The King’s Men, which became enormously successful on radio, records and in films. The group was a longtime fixture on Fibber McGee and Molly and appeared in numerous Hollywood productions, including several Hopalong Cassidy westerns. Darby later expanded his vocal arranging activities through the Ken Darby Singers, one of the most respected studio choral ensembles of the period. Read more…
Mario Nascimbene, 1913-2002
Composer Mario Nascimbene died on January 6, 2002, at his home in Rome, Italy, after a short illness. He was 88.
Born in Milan in 1913, Nascimbene studied composition and orchestration at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory. His early work in Italian cinema during the 1940s quickly brought him attention for its originality and subtle emotional shading. He became one of the first Italian composers to find international success in Hollywood, scoring major American productions during the 1950s and 1960s.
Nascimbene’s distinctive style, which often incorporated unconventional instruments and electronic effects alongside traditional orchestration, set him apart. He was an early adopter of tape loops and ambient sound in film scoring, helping to modernize the language of cinematic music. He collaborated with legendary directors including Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Roberto Rossellini, and Michelangelo Antonioni, and scored over 150 films across genres, from historical epics to psychological dramas.
His score for Alexander the Great (1956), starring Richard Burton, and his evocative work on titles such as The Barefoot Contessa (1954), A Farewell to Arms (1957), The Vikings (1958), Room at the Top (1959), Solomon and Sheba (1959), Barabbas (1961), Light in the Piazza (1962), Swordsman of Siena (1962) earned him a place among the leading Italian film composers of his generation. Later in his career Nascimbene worked on several films for the Hammer studio in the UK, notably titles such as One Million Years B.C. (1966), The Vengeance of She (1968), The Mummy (1969), When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970), and Creatures the World Forgot (1971). Read more…
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