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Fenton, George (1950-)


Composer

George Fenton has been a successful composer on major British and American films for more than 20 years. Classically trained, he found fame with his Oscar-nominated collaborative score for Gandhi (UK/India, d. Richard Attenborough, 1982), and proved adaptable across many musical and film genres. His astutely contextual music for Ken Loach films (Land and Freedom, UK/Germany/Spain, 1994; My Name is Joe, UK/France/Germany/Italy/Spain, 1998) has been attuned to the film-maker's vision. He also produced powerful scores for Dangerous Liaisons (US, d. Stephen Frears, 1988, Oscar-nominated), Shadowlands (UK/US, d. Richard Attenborough, 1993), and The Madness Of King George (UK/US, d. Nicholas Hytner, 1994). He also founded the Association of Professional Composers. Tim Roman, Encyclopedia of British Film

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	FILM & TV CREDITS
	From the BFI's filmographic database

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Selected credits

	Ae Fond Kiss (2004)
	Unusually tender Ken Loach feature about love across cultural divides

	Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire (1985)
	The world's first (and for some reason only) vampire snooker musical

	Bread and Roses (2001)
	Ken Loach's first US film, about the exploitation of Latino workers in LA

	Carla's Song (1996)
	Glaswegian-Nicaraguan love story about an idealistic bus driver

	Clockwise (1985)
	John Cleese-starring comedy about a headmaster having a very bad day

	Company of Wolves, The (1984)
	Hugely imaginative exploration and reinterpretation of fairytale myths

	It's a Free World... (2007)
	Ken Loach's alarming portrait of the exploitation of immigrant labour

	Ladybird Ladybird (1994)
	Heartbreaking drama of a mother's struggle to keep her children

	Land and Freedom (1995)
	Passionate tale of British volunteers fighting the Spanish Civil War

	My Name Is Joe (1998)
	Drama about a reformed alcoholic trying to run a failing soccer team.

	Navigators, The (2001)
	Ken Loach's powerful response to the privatisation of British Rail

	Sweet Sixteen (2002)
	Bleak portrait of a Scottish teenager coping with drugs and poverty

	Afternoon Off (1979)
	Tragicomedy about an Asian waiter on a blind date in Hartlepool.

	All Day on the Sands (1979)
	Alan Bennett's depiction of a traditional (i.e. dreadful) English seaside holiday

	Bergerac (1981-91)
	Long-running detective series set on the island tax haven of Jersey

	Bloody Kids (1980)
	Stunning Stephen Frears/Poliakoff drama about a prank gone wrong

	Blue Planet, The (2001)
	Epic exploration of life in the world's oceans and seas

	Day Out, A (1972)
	Alan Bennett's first TV play, a period drama about a Halifax cycling club

	Englishman Abroad, An (1983)
	A real-life Moscow encounter between an actress and a spy

	History Man, The (1981)
	Antony Sher excels as a radical but egotistical Sociology lecturer

	Jewel in the Crown, The (1984)
	Acclaimed drama series set in the 1940s Indian Raj

	Me! I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1978)
	Mournfully funny Alan Bennett play about a cripplingly shy English lecturer

	Monocled Mutineer, The (1986)
	Alan Bleasdale's controversial drama based on a real WWI mutiny

	Old Crowd, The (1979)
	Lindsay Anderson and Alan Bennett's portrait of a decadent, decaying world

	One Fine Day (1979)
	Comedian Dave Allen plays a troubled estate agent in this Alan Bennett play

	Shoestring (1979-80)
	Trevor Eve stars as a computer analyst turned private detective

	Woman of No Importance, A (1982)
	Alan Bennett's first TV monologue, delivered by Patricia Routledge

Related collections

	Ken Loach and his collaborators
	Collaboration is key for Britain's foremost political filmmaker

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