John Barry has died at the age of 77 of a heart attack. His James Bond movie themes were an indelible part of International pop culture. But even without Agent 007, Barry had a long and varied career. His IMDB listing for his composing work since 1960 lists over 110 titles.

Although Barry is best known for his James Bond scores — 11 in all, including Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice, and Diamonds Are Forever — he composed music for a wide variety of films, from James Hill’s Born Free (1966), the Free Willy of the 1960s, to Dino De Laurentiis’ megabudgeted King Kong (1976).

Barry was nominated for seven Oscars; he took home five statuettes: two for Born Free (Best Original Score and Best Original Song, with lyrics by Don Black), in addition to The Lion in Winter (1968), Out of Africa (1985), and Dances with Wolves (1990). His Oscar nominations were for Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) and Chaplin (1992).

Among Barry’s other notable scores are those for Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), The Knack … and How to Get It (1965), Petulia (1968), Midnight Cowboy, the George Cukor-directed television movie Love Among the Ruins (1975), Somewhere in Time (1980), and Mike’s Murder (1984).

Barry’s last film score was for Michael Apted’s 2001 thriller Enigma.

Upon hearing of John Barry’s death, songwriter, producer and composer Richard Citroen said:

A lot of people have been described at the time of their passing as “one of the greats”, but John Barry really was. For many of us, John Barry was as influential as Keith Richards is to others. His Bond themes are practically a genre unto themselves. Jane Birkin once said that even Serge Gainsbourg was amazed by some of Barry’s arrangements, and I guess she’d know, having been married to both of them.”

While Barry’s fame is inextricably entwined with the Bond movies, he first came to the attention of the British public in the late 1950s as the singer, composer and arranger for The John Barry Seven.
 

 
As Barry was linked to Bond, Shirley Bassey was linked to Barry. Here she is in all her seductive glory evoking the sinister sexuality of Mr. Goooooldfinguh!