- Edwin Astley
Infobox Person
name = Edwin "Ted" Astley
birth_date = birth date|1922|4|12|df=y
birth_place =Warrington ,Cheshire UK
dead=dead
death_date = death date and age|1998|5|19|1922|4|12|df=y
death_place =Goring ,Oxfordshire UKEdwin Astley (1922—1998) was a British
composer , occasionally credited as Ted Astley. His best known works are British television themes and scores, most notably the theme to "The Saint". He also successfully diversified intosymphonic pop and an arrangement of his "Saint" theme reached number five in theUK Singles Chart .Personal life and family
Astley was born in
Warrington ,Lancashire , and served in theSecond World War as a musician playingsaxophone andclarinet for the troops.cite web |title =Edwin T. Astley, biography |author =Eder, Bruce |publisher =allmovie.com |url=http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:158142~T1 |accessdate=2008-04-15]Astley married Hazel Balbirnie in 1945.cite web |title =Edwin Astley Biography |publisher =
IMDB |url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005951/bio |accessdate=2008-04-15] Their eldest daughter marriedPete Townshend ofThe Who ,cite web |title =Edwin Astley Biography |publisher =BFI |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/771888/ |accessdate=2008-04-15] and their sonJon Astley produced and remastered The Who's reissues. DaughterVirginia Astley is a singer-songwriter.cite web |title =News, 24th November 2001 |author=Virginia Astley |publisher =virginiaastley.com |url=http://www.virginiaastley.com/html/news_01.htm |accessdate=2008-04-15]Career
In the early 1950s Astley was arranging for Geraldo, and his song "I Never Could Tell" was recorded by both
Vera Lynn andRichard Tauber . His own band, the Ted Astley Orchestra, became well known in the north of England, and he wrote songs for performers such asAnne Shelton .He wrote music for many British television series of the 50s and 60s, including "The Adventures of Robin Hood", "
Danger Man " (known as Secret Agent in the USA, where his theme music was removed), "Department S ", "Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) ", "The Saint", "Gideon's Way ", "The Baron " and "The Champions ". Most of these programmes were part ofLew Grade 's showbiz empire of ATV andITC Entertainment . Astley was asked to write music for "The Prisoner ", seen as a sequel of sorts to "Danger Man", but had to withdraw because he felt that he would be unable to createPatrick McGoohan 's vision for the score — due to McGoohan being too busy to hold meetings with him. [cite web |title=Edwin Astley — the one that got away |author= Hall, Larry and Volkman, Victor R. |publisher=The Prisoner Music Archive |url=http://www.the-prisoner-6.freeserve.co.uk/arch_1.htm |accessdate=2008-05-18]However, Astley showed his diversity by writing the music for Sir
Kenneth Clark 's celebrated 1969BBC documentary series "Civilisation", and scoring several British Transport Films including "Diesel Train Ride" (1959), "Broad Waterways" (1959/60) and "The Signal Engineers" (1962).In 1997 Astley found himself at number five on the pop charts as composer of "The Saint", thirty-three years after he wrote it, which had been revived by Orbital for the new Saint movie. His last work was a 1998 symphonic interpretation of Who music called "", which followed 1995's "Symphonic Music Of The Rolling Stones".cite web |title =Mystery TV Themes:The Saint |author =Chris Well |url=http://chriswellnovelist.blogspot.com/2008/03/mystery-tv-themes-saint.html |accessdate=2008-04-21]
Recordings
Astley's actual recorded output is quite sparse, a few singles and albums of the music from "The Saint" and "Danger Man" which were only available in the United States until 1997 when he arranged for CDs to be issued in the UK where the albums were expensive collectors' items. Others included the soundtrack for "International Detective", a few library records which were only semi-official and a series of albums made by the London Symphony Orchestra which featured his work.
Recently the complete recordings of the score to "Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)" was released by Network DVD in the UK. The three disc box-set featured over two hundred recorded music cues from the series, and a book detailing the music production.cite web |title =Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) Original Soundtrack |publisher =Network DVD |url=http://www.networkdvd.net/product_info.php?cPath=69&products_id=583 |accessdate=2008-04-15]
Death and legacy
Astley retired in the late 1970s, and died in 1998.
Although Astley's themes had introduced a number of highly popular television shows, recognition of his death was limited to brief obituaries in the "Times" and the "Independent". However, tributes later appeared on television and in print.
In 2001 Jools Holland presented a TV tribute called "Astley's Way". Jools Holland had recorded the "Danger Man" theme earlier and he appeared with The Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra to play "Theme from Danger Man", plus various other themes and incidental music composed by Astley. The documentary also included interviews with his widow, son Jon, daughter Virginia and son-in-law Pete Townshend.
The Autumn 2005 edition of "ACTION TV" provided a 12 page feature on Astley, including an interview, photos, a discography and a filmography.
References
External links
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005951/ Edwin Astley] at the
Internet Movie Database
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/771888/index.html Edwin Astley biography at BFI Screenonline]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=qEl1Sr9pGH4 Pete Townshend on Edwin Astley's TV Themes, from YouTube]
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