James Bond pictures, but Barry is also the holder of five Academy Awards, none of them for the Bond movies. Born Free (for which he won Oscars for Best Score and Best Song), The Lion in Winter, Out of Africa, and Dances With Wolves are hardly unknown films or scores. Additionally, from 1957 until the early '60s as leader of the John Barry Seven, Barry was one of the best-known figures in popular music and early rock & roll in England. Born in York, England, on November 3, 1933, John Barry was the son of a small movie theater chain owner and a former concert pianist. He showed an avid interest in music as a boy and initially studied piano, although he switched to the trumpet in his teens. After spending much of his boyhood steeped in classical music, he discovered jazz -- his idol was Harry James and his favorite music was made by Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, and the Dorsey Brothers.

Barry studied piano and composition with the music master of York Minster Cathedral, Dr. Francis Jackson, and had a deep interest in arranging. Growing up around his father's movie theater business, Barry was always cognizant of the power and influence of the cinema, but it was a specific film, A Song to Remember, dealing with the life of Fryderyc Chopin, that first demonstrated to him the power of music in movies and got him interested in the field. He also credits Max Steiner's score for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Anton Karas' music for The Third Man as favorite film scores from his early life. Barry played with a local jazz band in his mid-teens, and was lucky enough to get himself assigned to a musical unit in the British Army when he was called up for National Service at age 18. During his two years of Army service, he tried his hand at arranging, and he later enhanced his skills by taking a correspondence course offered by Bill Russo, one of Stan Kenton's arrangers. Once he was back in civilian life, Barry offered his arrangements to some of the top bandleaders in England, among them Ted Heath, Jack Parnell, and Johnny Dankworth. Dankworth actually used two of them, and at Parnell's suggestion, Barry started his own band. The result was John Barry & the Seven, later known as the John Barry Seven. He moved the group to London in 1957 and approached Jack Good, the producer of British television's top music showcase The Six-Five Special, but was turned down for the show. After a few weeks and some successful live engagements including a gig as the backing band for Tommy Steele, the show's producers changed their minds and the John Barry Seven made it onto The Six-Five Special. The group became immensely popular from their appearances on the program, and Barry was the star, not only playing trumpet but also handling the vocal chores. By this time, the rock & roll boom was going full swing, and his singing frequently required Barry to do his best Elvis- or Carl Perkins-style vocalizing.