__NOTOC__ William Lambert Williamson (28 April 1907– 13 November 1975) was a British composer and conductor, best known for his scores for films, short documentaries and light music.Biography, IMDb
/ref> He was born at 14 Lindum Road,

Cleethorpes Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England with a population of 29,678 in 2021. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry ...

, Lincolnshire, the son of a doctor. Williamson studied engineering at

Leeds University The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed ...

, where he was musical director of the revue ''Varsity Vanities'' in November 1931. He took his diploma in June 1932. He married Constance Haigh, a schoolteacher, in Huddersfield on 24 July 1933. Before the war he was a pianist with the

Jack Hylton Jack Hylton (born John Greenhalgh Hilton; 2 July 1892 – 29 January 1965) was an English pianist, composer, band leader and impresario. Hylton rose to prominence during the British dance band era, being referred as the "British King of Jazz ...

band.''Grimsby Daily Telegraph'', 8 February 1951, p. 4 During the late 1940s he worked for the

Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation (founded as the J. Arthur Rank Organisation) is a British entertainment conglomerate founded in 1937 by industrialist J. Arthur Rank. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the Uni ...

. He composed many scores for British films in the 1940s and 1950s, short information and documentary films for the

Crown Film Unit The Crown Film Unit was an organisation within the British Government's Ministry of Information during the Second World War; until 1940, it was the GPO Film Unit. Its remit was to make films for the general public in Britain and abroad. Its outp ...

and others, and acted as conductor and musical director on films scored by other composers, including

Georges Auric Georges Auric (; 15 February 1899 – 23 July 1983) was a French composer, born in Lodève, Hérault, France. He was considered one of ''Les Six'', a group of artists informally associated with Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie. Before he turned 20 h ...

's ''

Moulin Rouge Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche. In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Olympia (Par ...

'', '' Heaven Knows'', '' The Innocents'' and ''

Bonjour Tristesse ''Bonjour Tristesse'' () is a novel by Françoise Sagan. Published in 1954, when the author was only 18, it was an overnight sensation. The title is derived from a poem by Paul Éluard, "À peine défigurée", which begins with the lines "Adieu ...

'',

Roman Vlad Roman Vlad (29 December 1919 – 21 September 2013) was a Romanian-born Italian composer, pianist, and musicologist. Biography Born in Cernăuți, Kingdom of Romania (now Chernivtsi, Ukraine), he studied with Titus Tarnawski and Liviu Russu in R ...

's ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'', Franco Mannino's '' Beat the Devil'' and Mario Nascimbene's '' Room at the Top''. Light music concert works, including the overtures ''Curtain Up'' and ''This is the Business'', were recorded by Sidney Torch with the Queen's Hall Light Orchestra in the late 1940s. In February 1951 Williamson composed ''Living Silence'', a choral and speaking choir morality for

Liverpool Cathedral Liverpool Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Liverpool, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Liverpool and is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool, diocese of Liverpool. The church may be formally re ...

, setting a text by Patric Dickinson and broadcast on the

Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces ...

. Williamson regularly composed for BBC radio productions in the late 1940s and into the 1950s: his ''Rivers of the North of England'', composed for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Music Library in 1950, was used as the theme tune for Eric Simms' ''Countryside'' programme in 1952. For the ' Mammoth Concert of Comic Music', held at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

on 17 July 1958 he contributed a Concertino for piano tuner and orchestra. Williamson, who first worked with

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

on the music for the film ''

A Countess from Hong Kong ''A Countess from Hong Kong'' is a 1967 British romantic comedy film scored, written, and directed by Charlie Chaplin, and the final film directed, written, produced and scored by him. It was based on the life of a former Russian aristocrat, as ...

'' in 1967, was the arranger of Chaplin's new score for the re-released edition of '' The Circus'' in 1969.Lochner, Jim. ''The Music of Charlie Chaplin'' (2018), p. 210. The score was restored for live orchestral screenings by

Timothy Brock Timothy Brock (born 1963) is an American conductor and composer specializing in concert works of the early 20th century, orchestral performance practices of the 1920s and 1930s, and live performances to accompany silent film. Silent film scores ...

in 2003.Charlie Chaplin Film Concerts
/ref> He died in Buckinghamshire in November 1975, aged 68.

Selected filmography

* ''

Excuse My Glove ''Excuse My Glove'' is a 1936 British comedy film, comedy List of sports films, sports film directed by Redd Davis and starring Len Harvey, Archie Pitt and Betty Ann Davies. It was film producer, produced by Alexander Film Productions. It was sh ...

'' (1936) * ''

The Edge of the World ''The Edge of the World'' is a 1937 British film directed by Michael Powell, loosely based on the evacuation of the Scottish archipelago of St Kilda. It was Powell's first major project. The title is a reference to the expression '' ultima Th ...

'' (1937) * '' The End of the River'' (1947) * '' One Night with You'' (1948) * '' Woman Hater'' (1948) * ''

Good-Time Girl ''Good-Time Girl'' is a 1948 British film noir-crime drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring Jean Kent, Dennis Price and Herbert Lom. A homeless girl is asked to explain her bad behaviour in the juvenile court, and says she's run a ...

'' (1948) * ''

Cardboard Cavalier ''Cardboard Cavalier'' is a 1948 British historical comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Sid Field, Margaret Lockwood and Jerry Desmonde. It was the last film for Forde and Field. Field died of a heart attack shortly after the film ...

'' (1949) * '' Don't Ever Leave Me'' (1949) * '' They Were Not Divided'' (1950) * '' Green Grow the Rushes'' (1951) * '' Stryker of the Yard'' (1953) * ''

Cosh Boy ''Cosh Boy'' (released in the United States as ''The Slasher'') is a 1953 British film noir based on an original play by Bruce Walker. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and featured James Kenney and Joan Collins. It was made at Riverside Studios ...

'' (1953) * '' Beat the Devil'' (1953) * ''

The Good Die Young ''The Good Die Young'' is a 1954 British crime film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Laurence Harvey, Gloria Grahame, Joan Collins, Stanley Baker, Richard Basehart and John Ireland. It was made by Remus Films from a screenplay by ...

'' (1954) * '' Forbidden Cargo'' (1954) * ''

To Dorothy a Son ''To Dorothy a Son'' (U.S. title: ''Cash on Delivery'') is a black and white 1954 British comedy film in the form of a farce directed by Muriel Box and starring Shelley Winters, John Gregson and Peggy Cummins. It was written by Peter Rogers b ...

'' (1954) * '' The Green Carnation'' (1954) * '' Secret Venture'' (1955) * ''

Track the Man Down ''Track the Man Down'' is a 1955 British black and white "B" crime film directed by R. G. Springsteen, starring Kent Taylor, Petula Clark, and George Rose. It was written by Paul Erickson. Plot A robbery at a greyhound racetrack results ...

'' (1955) * ''

Abdulla the Great ''Abdulla the Great'' (also known as ''Abdullah's Harem'') is a 1955 comedy film. It was directed and produced by Gregory Ratoff who also stars in the title role from a screenplay by Boris Ingster and George St. George, based on the novel ''My ...

'' (1955) * '' Cross Channel'' (1955) * ''

Dry Rot Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of wood which give it strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resulted in a ...

'' (1956) * '' Sailor Beware!'' (1956) * ''

The Story of Esther Costello ''The Story of Esther Costello'' is a 1957 British drama film directed by David Miller and starring Joan Crawford, Rossano Brazzi and Heather Sears. It was produced by Miller and Jack Clayton. The screenplay by Charles Kaufman was based on ...

'' (1957) * '' The Spaniard's Curse'' (1958) * '' This Other Eden'' (1959) * '' The Innocents'' (1961) * '' The Adding Machine'' (1969) Documentary shorts * ''Moving Millions'' (Crown Film Unit, 1947) * ''Men of the World'' (Crown Film Unit, 1950) * ''Fire at Duckham'' (Petroleum Films Bureau, 1954)

References

External links

*
''Moving Millions'', Crown Film Unit (1947)
*
Music for 'Rivers of the North of England': Serene & Flowing
', BBC Midland Light Orchestra {{DEFAULTSORT:Williamson, Lambert 1907 births 1975 deaths English conductors (music) English film score composers English light music composers English male conductors (music) English male film score composers People from Cleethorpes