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Angela Morley
Arranger, conductor and award-winning composer of film scores who had a sex change in middle age
Telegraph.co.uk, 25/1/2009
Angela Morley, who died on January 15 aged 84, was a celebrated composer, arranger and conductor of film, television and radio scores, light music and recordings by popular singers; she was also remarkable for having undergone a gender change in midlife, while maintaining a successful career in the public eye.
Her mastery of orchestration and gift for evoking moods and atmospheres are particularly in evidence in her award-winning scores for the films The Slipper and The Rose (1975) and Watership Down (1977).
Angela Morley was born Walter Stott in Leeds on March 10 1924, the son of a ukulele-playing watchmaker. He began taking piano lessons aged eight, but had to give up when his father died suddenly three months later. Encounters with the violin and accordion followed, and he finally settled on the clarinet and alto saxophone. Leaving school at 15, he went on tour with Archie's Juvenile Band for a weekly wage of 10 shillings.
Rising quickly through the ranks of wartime dance bands, Stott joined Oscar Rabin's band in 1942, for which he wrote his first professional arrangements, and then Geraldo's broadcasting orchestra. At the same time he began studying composition with Matyas Seiber and conducting with Walter Goehr.
By the age of 26 he was able to give up playing to concentrate on composing and arranging. Three years later he was appointed musical director for the newly-launched British arm of Philips Records, arranging and conducting recording sessions for their contracted artists, among them Frankie Vaughan, Harry Secombe and Shirley Bassey. At the same time he was writing and directing music for two long-running radio shows, Hancock's Half Hour and The Goon Show, and also producing soundtrack scores for Associated British Pictures. In 1962 and 1963 he arranged Britain's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.
The music created throughout the 1950s and 1960s bearing the credit "Arranged and Conducted by Wally Stott" includes dozens of record albums, ranging from Noël Coward to Mel Tormé, and Diana Dors to Dusty Springfield. There were scores for such films as Peeping Tom (1960), The Looking Glass War (1969) and When Eight Bells Toll (1970) as well as numerous radio and television shows. The Goon Show called for two full-band arrangements a week, along with sundry discordant flourishes, fanfares and other incidental music.
In 1972, to the amazement of the entire music business, Wally Stott retired briefly from the scene to re-emerge as Angela Morley. The 1970s was not the most open-minded or sensitive of decades when it came to such matters, and the atmosphere of London recording studios was noted more for its beery camaraderie than for anything resembling sympathy or tenderness. Angela Morley patiently bore the ribald comments and lewd suggestions, and they subsided with time.
In 1974 Angela Morley was nominated for an Academy Award, for her contribution to The Little Prince, and again the following year for The Slipper And the Rose. She attended the Oscar ceremonies on both occasions, and was so encouraged by her reception in Hollywood that she resolved to move to California.
In the United States she worked mainly in television, contributing scores to numerous episodes of Dallas, Dynasty, Cagney & Lacey, Wonderwoman and other long-running series. She also formed a firm working relationship with the composer John Williams, working with him on such blockbusters as Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, ET, Home Alone and Schindler's List.
Although never credited as composer of a major Hollywood score, Angela Morley worked as orchestrator, arranger and sometimes conductor with names such as André Previn, Miklos Rosza and Lionel Newman. Over the course of her Hollywood years she gained three Emmy Awards and six nominations.
Her last years were spent writing for recordings by soloists such as Itzhak Perlman and Yo Yo Ma, and for symphony orchestras.
Wally Stott was married twice. His first wife, Beryl, died in 1968. Two years later he married Christine Parker, with whom he remained from then on.
Angela Morley is survived by a son from her first marriage. A daughter predeceased her.
Angela Morley
Arranger, conductor and award-winning composer of film scores who had a sex change in middle age
Telegraph.co.uk, 25/1/2009
Angela Morley, who died on January 15 aged 84, was a celebrated composer, arranger and conductor of film, television and radio scores, light music and recordings by popular singers; she was also remarkable for having undergone a gender change in midlife, while maintaining a successful career in the public eye.
Her mastery of orchestration and gift for evoking moods and atmospheres are particularly in evidence in her award-winning scores for the films The Slipper and The Rose (1975) and Watership Down (1977).
Angela Morley was born Walter Stott in Leeds on March 10 1924, the son of a ukulele-playing watchmaker. He began taking piano lessons aged eight, but had to give up when his father died suddenly three months later. Encounters with the violin and accordion followed, and he finally settled on the clarinet and alto saxophone. Leaving school at 15, he went on tour with Archie's Juvenile Band for a weekly wage of 10 shillings.
Rising quickly through the ranks of wartime dance bands, Stott joined Oscar Rabin's band in 1942, for which he wrote his first professional arrangements, and then Geraldo's broadcasting orchestra. At the same time he began studying composition with Matyas Seiber and conducting with Walter Goehr.
By the age of 26 he was able to give up playing to concentrate on composing and arranging. Three years later he was appointed musical director for the newly-launched British arm of Philips Records, arranging and conducting recording sessions for their contracted artists, among them Frankie Vaughan, Harry Secombe and Shirley Bassey. At the same time he was writing and directing music for two long-running radio shows, Hancock's Half Hour and The Goon Show, and also producing soundtrack scores for Associated British Pictures. In 1962 and 1963 he arranged Britain's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.
The music created throughout the 1950s and 1960s bearing the credit "Arranged and Conducted by Wally Stott" includes dozens of record albums, ranging from Noël Coward to Mel Tormé, and Diana Dors to Dusty Springfield. There were scores for such films as Peeping Tom (1960), The Looking Glass War (1969) and When Eight Bells Toll (1970) as well as numerous radio and television shows. The Goon Show called for two full-band arrangements a week, along with sundry discordant flourishes, fanfares and other incidental music.
In 1972, to the amazement of the entire music business, Wally Stott retired briefly from the scene to re-emerge as Angela Morley. The 1970s was not the most open-minded or sensitive of decades when it came to such matters, and the atmosphere of London recording studios was noted more for its beery camaraderie than for anything resembling sympathy or tenderness. Angela Morley patiently bore the ribald comments and lewd suggestions, and they subsided with time.
In 1974 Angela Morley was nominated for an Academy Award, for her contribution to The Little Prince, and again the following year for The Slipper And the Rose. She attended the Oscar ceremonies on both occasions, and was so encouraged by her reception in Hollywood that she resolved to move to California.
In the United States she worked mainly in television, contributing scores to numerous episodes of Dallas, Dynasty, Cagney & Lacey, Wonderwoman and other long-running series. She also formed a firm working relationship with the composer John Williams, working with him on such blockbusters as Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, ET, Home Alone and Schindler's List.
Although never credited as composer of a major Hollywood score, Angela Morley worked as orchestrator, arranger and sometimes conductor with names such as André Previn, Miklos Rosza and Lionel Newman. Over the course of her Hollywood years she gained three Emmy Awards and six nominations.
Her last years were spent writing for recordings by soloists such as Itzhak Perlman and Yo Yo Ma, and for symphony orchestras.
Wally Stott was married twice. His first wife, Beryl, died in 1968. Two years later he married Christine Parker, with whom he remained from then on.
Angela Morley is survived by a son from her first marriage. A daughter predeceased her.
Θα το προτιμούσα πολύ αν ο συντάκτης του άρθρου δεν αναφερότανε στην Angela Morlay μια με το αρσενικό και μια με το θηλυκό γένος. Σε κάποιες φάσεις είναι λες και μιλάει για δυο διαφορετικά άτομα.
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήΔεν την είχα ακουστά, btw. Την εκπομπή που λέει, το Goons, την ξέρω, ήταν ο Peter Sellers στα ξεκινήματά του.
Ανάλογη ιστορία είναι κι αυτή της Jan Morris, επίσης.