After studying composition with
Arthur Jacob at the Royal College of Music, Malcolm Arnold (born in Northampton on 21 October 1921) became First Trumpet with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which he left in 1948 to devote himself to full-time composing and conducting. He has composed the scores for nearly 100 films, almost all of them British, though some had substantial American involvement,
including The Bridge on the River Kwai (d. David Lean, 1957) for which he won an Oscar. He worked several times for David Lean and Carol Reed, and many other British
film-makers. After beginning with documentaries, he composed for a wide genre range including comedies such as The Belles of St Trinian's (d. Frank Launder, 1954), war
films (Hell in Korea, d. Julian Amyes, 1956), thrillers (Tiger in the Smoke, d. Roy Ward Baker, 1956), and realist drama (No Love for Johnnie, d. Ralph Thomas, 1961). He was awarded a CBE in 1970 and knighted in 1993. Brian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of British Film
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