George Fenton, a composer who worked on films like Gandhi, Groundhog Day, and Sweet Home Alabama, has died at the age of 76.
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“We are very sad to announce that George Fenton passed away unexpectedly today,” his family said in a statement shared by the BBC on Oct. 5.
“He is survived by his loving wife Amanda, ex-wife Jane, children Gemma, Grace and Bridget, and grandchildren Lola, Audrey, Alfred, George, Frank and Beatrice, and a life of music.”
A cause of death hasn’t been given.
According to the BBC, Fenton signed a new worldwide publishing deal only three weeks before his death. He was also said to be working on a musical and two new film scores.
Fenton began playing the electric guitar at the age of seven, telling The Express “The Beatles had a huge influence on me.” He began to study the church organ, but rejected music college in favor of pursuing a stage career.
In 1968, he appeared on the West End in the play Forty Years On. During his stint in the show, he understudied the musical director Carl Davis. He had a top 10 hit in Sweden with a cover of The Beatles’ “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.”
After noticing that he kept getting cast in roles that required him to play an instrument, he went back to music. In 1974, he was the composer and musical director of a production of Twelfth Night at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon.
He received his first of four Oscar nominations in 1983 with the score for Gandhi. It was followed by Best Original Score and Song for the movie Cry Freedom in 1988. And Best Original Score in 1989 and 1992 for Dangerous Liaisons and The Fisher King.
Fenton also provided the score for David Attenborough’s Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Frozen Planet.
He was made a CBE in 2023 for services to music.