John Joseph Charles (4 November 1940 – 7 May 2024) was a New Zealand

film composer A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

, and

orchestrator Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

. He created a number of musical works for the New Zealand cinema of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, including compositions for films such as '' Goodbye Pork Pie'', ''

Utu Shamash ( Akkadian: ''šamaš''), also known as Utu ( Sumerian: dutu " Sun") was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in the world every day, and was therefore responsible for justice and protection ...

'', '' The Quiet Earth'', '' A Soldier's Tale'' or '' Spooked''.Portrait of John Charles in: Sounz
accessed 22 May 2022

Life and career

Born in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, Charles studied art at the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

. At the same time, he played jazz music in the university club. During his studies, he worked as a newspaper journalist and as a programmer for the New Zealand Broadcasting Service. With a

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

degree, he returned to NZBC and worked as a producer and director. With experience directing a television play in 1973 and directing two episodes of a comedy series, he moved to Australia in 1974 and composed the music for his first television film, ''The God Boy''. The director with whom Charles worked most often in his career was jazz trumpeter and filmmaker

Geoff Murphy Geoffrey Peter Murphy (12 October 1938 – 3 December 2018) was a New Zealand filmmaker, producer, director, and screenwriter best known for his work during the renaissance of New Zealand cinema that began in the second half of the 1970s. His ...

. Their acquaintance dates back to 1966 and Murphy's first film, the unfinished children's musical ''The Magic Hammer''. The two starred together as part of the 1970s touring group Blerta and on the Murphy-directed TV show of the same name. Together they turned to the realization of several New Zealand cinema projects in the late 1979s and early 1980s. While Murphy was directing, Charles composed the soundtracks to the films '' Goodbye Pork Pie'', for which Charles wrote a jazz score, the Māori drama ''

'', which has a predominantly symphonic score, and the dystopian, award-winning science fiction drama '' The Quiet Earth'', in which he also processed avant-garde and experimental sounds in addition to symphonic ones. Director Murphy and leading actor Bruno Lawrence received several awards for the film ''The Quiet Earth'', including the New Zealand Film and TV Award. Finally, in 2004, the mystery drama '' Spooked'' starring

Cliff Curtis Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis (born July 27, 1968) is a New Zealand actor and film producer. After working in theatre, he made his film debut in Jane Campion's Academy Awards, Oscar-winning film ''The Piano'' (1993), followed by a breakout role ...

was created, the last joint work by Charles and Murphy. In 1996, Charles joined the Australian Film and Broadcasting School as composer-in-residence, where he taught composition for more than a decade. He died at home, surrounded by his family, after a struggle with dementia. He had married Judy Robins, whose sister Pat had married Geoff Murphy. Keith Aberdein in ''The New Zealand Listener'' 10 August 2024 pages 48,49

Select filmography

* 1977: ''

Wild Man The wild man, wild man of the woods, woodwose or wodewose is a mythical figure and motif that appears in the art and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to ''Silvanus (mythology), Silvanu ...

'' * 1979: ''Jack Winter's Dream'' (based on a 1959 play by

James K. Baxter James Keir Baxter (29 June 1926 – 22 October 1972) was a New Zealand poet and playwright. He was also known as an activist for the preservation of Māori culture. He is one of New Zealand's most well-known and controversial literary figures. ...

) * 1980: '' Goodbye Pork Pie'' * 1983: ''

'' * 1984: ''

Constance Constance may refer to: Places * Constance, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Constance, Minnesota, United States, an unincorporated community * Mount Constance, Washington State, United States * Lake Constance (disambiguat ...

'' * 1985: '' The Quiet Earth'' * 1988: ''

Zombie Brigade ''Zombie Brigade'' is an Australian zombie film. It was written, directed and produced by Carmelo Musca and Barrie Pattison. It screened at Cannes Film Festival in May 1988 but did not get a cinema release. It got a video release in Australia in ...

'' * 1989: '' A Soldier's Tale'' * 1993: '' Bread & Roses'' * 1994: ''

The Last Tattoo ''The Last Tattoo'' is a 1994 feature film set in World War II-era Wellington, New Zealand. Plot While tracking down cases of venereal disease associated with a local prostitute, Kelly Towne, a public health nurse, meets U.S. Marine Captain ...

'' * 2004: '' Spooked''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, John 1940 births 2024 deaths New Zealand male film score composers New Zealand male classical composers New Zealand music arrangers Male television composers New Zealand television composers Musicians from Wellington City 20th-century New Zealand male composers 21st-century New Zealand male composers 20th-century New Zealand classical composers 21st-century New Zealand classical composers Victoria University of Wellington alumni