Frankel: Curse of the Werewolf • The Net • The Prisoner

The career of London-born composer Benjamin Frankel ranks among the most remarkable and diversified of the 20th century. A musically gifted child, he faced stern parental opposition to notions of a career in music and was apprenticed to a watchmaker, when he left school at fourteen. His gifts, however, came to the notice of the American pianist Victor Benham who persuaded his parents otherwise, and undertook to teach him, free of charge, for a period of two years, the last six months being in Germany. Although Frankel's formal training was as a pianist, he was also a talented violinist and, on returning to London, began playing for numerous dance bands, later to include those of Roy Fox, Fred Elizalde and Carroll Gibbons (The Savoy Orpheans). Apart from acquiring a reputation as a leading "hot jazz" fiddler, he was in demand as an arranger, most notably for Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra during the mid-1930s. Despite a busy working life, he continued formal studies with Orlando Morgan, at the Guildhall School of Music in London, on scholarships from the Worshipful Company of Musicians, during the years 1929-34. In 1934, Frankel entered films, ultimately scoring over a hundred, including The Seventh Veil, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Man in the White Suit, The End of the Affair, Night of the Iguana and Battle of the Bulge (nominated for Best Original Score at the 1966 Golden Globes). For much of the 1930s and 1940s, he was also heavily involved in musical theatre, as musical director or arranger, working for many famous names of the day, such as Noel Coward and C.B. Cochran.