Film composer John Barry dies

Five-time Oscar-winning composer John Barry, who wrote music for a dozen James Bond films, including “You Only Live Twice” and “Goldfinger” but couldn’t persuade a jury that he composed the suave spy’s theme music, has died. He was 77.

Barry died in New York, where he had lived for some time, on Sunday, his family said. The family did not release the cause of death.

Though his work on the Bond films is among his most famous, the English-born composer wrote a long list of scores, including for “Midnight Cowboy,” “Dances with Wolves” and “Body Heat.” He was proud of writing both for big action blockbusters and smaller films.

He won two Oscars for “Born Free” in 1966, for best score and best song. He also earned statuettes for the scores to “The Lion in Winter” (1968), “Out of Africa” (1985) and “Dances with Wolves” (1990).

His association with Agent 007 began with “Dr. No” in 1962, although his contribution to that film was not credited and is in dispute.

Monty Norman, who was credited as the composer for “Dr. No,” sued The Sunday Times in 2001 for reporting that Barry had composed the theme, working from scraps of Norman’s work. Norman won the case, collecting $48,000.

Barry testified that he was paid 250 pounds to work on the theme music, developing the guitar line from part of Norman’s song “Bad Sign, Good Sign,” but agreed that Norman would get the credit. He was asked whether Norman wrote the theme and responded “absolutely not.”

In later years, Barry limited his comment on the case to saying, “If I didn’t write it, why did they ask me to do the other ones?”

He subsequently wrote music for “Gold-finger,” “From Russia with Love,” “Thunderball,” “You Only Live Twice,” “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” “Diamonds are Forever,” “The Man with the Golden Gun,” “Moonraker,” “Octopussy,” “A View to a Kill” and “The Living Daylights.”

In an interview in 2008 with The Irish Times, Barry said his success “was not that difficult.”

“If you hit the right formula, if you have an instinct for music, if you apply it, if you have the good fortune to meet with certain people who teach you well … I didn’t find it all that difficult,” he said.