 Composer Georges Auric (born in Lodève, France on 15 February 1899) began and ended his career in France, but in the middle he contributed musical scores to some memorable British films, starting with Dead of Night (d. Alberto Cavalcanti/Charles Crichton/Basil Dearden/Robert Hamer, 1945) at Ealing. He trained
at the Paris Conservatoire, and under the composer Vincent D'Indy at the Schola Cantorum. He composed his first film score, Le sang d'un poète (Blood of a Poet, France, d. Jean Cocteau), in 1931,
after working prolifically in other musical fields, including ballet. His early
scores include those for such famous French films as A nous la liberté (France, d. René Clair, 1931). In England, he composed the score for eight further Ealing films, as varied as It Always Rains on Sunday (d. Robert Hamer, 1947), Cage of Gold (d. Basil Dearden, 1950) and The Titfield Thunderbolt (d. Charles Crichton, 1953), as well as notable scores for the films of other companies, including Silent Dust (d. Lance Comfort, 1949, a typically
stirring melodramatic score), The Queen of Spades (d. Thorold Dickinson, 1949), and The
Innocents (d. Jack Clayton, 1961). He continued to compose for French films in the postwar decades, scoring such classics as Du rififi chez les hommes (Rififi, d. Jules Dassin, 1955), and
Lola Montès (d. Max Ophüls, 1955). He was appointed director of the Paris Opera in 1962.
Bibliography
Auric, Georges, Quand j'étais là (1976) Brian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of British Film
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FILM & TV CREDITS
