Carl Davis Dies: ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’, ‘Pride And Prejudice’ & Silent Film Composer Was 86 

Carl Davis, an American-born conductor and composer who had lived in the UK since 1961, has died in Oxford. He was 86.

BAFTA-winner Davis composed music for more than 100 TV programs, created new scores for the concert performance of silent movies, and wrote many ballet and concert works.

He was best known for his work on hit BBC TV series Pride & Prejudice (1995), starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, and movies including The French Lieutenant’s Woman (for which he won a BAFTA), starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons, and Florence Foster Jenkins, also starring Streep.

Davis, who was born in Brooklyn in 1936, also provided the original music for popular UK documentary history series The World at War (1973) for Thames Television and conducted the BBC’s theme song for their coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

In the late 1970s, Davis was commissioned to create music for a restored version of Abel Gance’s silent epic Napoleon. By the early ’90s, his reputation made him the number one choice for new scores to silent films. Many DVD releases, including Ben-Hur, The Phantom Of The Opera and Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights, use Davis’s music.

Davis’s family said in a statement via his publisher Faber Music: “We are heartbroken to announce that Carl Davis CBE passed away this morning, following a brain haemorrhage. We are so proud that Carl’s legacy will be his astonishing impact on music. A consummate all-round musician, he was the driving force behind the reinvention of the silent movie for this generation and he wrote scores for some of the most loved and remembered British television dramas. He was a conductor and composer of symphonic works, as well as a notable writer for the ballet.”

Richard King, CEO of Faber Music, commented: “The Faber Music family is devastated by this sad news. Carl was a central figure in our roster since his arrival in 1990, over half of the company’s existence. We are honoured and proud to have worked alongside such a compositional giant, and our thoughts are with Carl’s family at this time.”

Davis married the actress Jean Boht in 1970. They have two daughters and three grandchildren.