Ken Thorne

Birth : 1924-01-26, East Dereham, Norfolk, England, UK

Death : 2014-07-09

History

Ken Thorne was born on January 26, 1924 (Aquarius) in East Dereham, Norfolk, England, UK. He was married to Linda Hayes (23 March 1973 - 9 July 2014) until his death. They had 3 children together, Jennifer Coplin, Emily Thorne and Claire Thorne. He died on July 9, 2014 in West Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. He is known for his work on Superman II (1980), Superman III (1983) and U-571 (2000). Ken is an Oscar-winning British composer and conductor who began work as a big band pianist in the 1940's. At age 27, he studied composition with private tutors at Cambridge.

Movies

Marco Polo
Original Music Composer
Assigned to accompany two priests on a mission to convert the court of Kublai Khan to Christianity, Marco Polo is abandoned in the mountains when the priests, doubting the very existence of China, turn back. Polo eventually pushes bravely forth alone toward the fabled country where he is accepted as an envoy into Khan's court. Marooned on the far side of the world, Polo, accompanied by his servant, Pedro, advances as a Mongol grandee for twenty extraordinary years. What he eventually brings back with him to the West is a chronicle that changed history forever.
You Will Believe: The Cinematic Saga of Superman
Self
A 5-part documentary of the history of Superman in the movies. • Origin - Superman in the media and the challenges the Salkinds faced • Vision - Creating the right script, Choosing the right director and casting the right actors • Ascent - The production and launch of a new kind of fantasy film • Crisis - Complications and conflicts between the creative forces behind Superman II • Redemption - Criticisms and burnout of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Additional Music
Superman agrees to sacrifice his powers to start a relationship with Lois Lane, unaware that three Kryptonian criminals he inadvertently released are conquering Earth.
Love Comes Softly
Original Music Composer
Marty is a 19 year old pioneer woman, recently married. She goes west with her husband Clem, hoping to start a new life. But Clem unexpectedly dies, and Marty finds herself alone, two months pregnant. Clark Davis, a widower, offers her a marriage of convenience: she needs food and money, and he needs someone to take care of his daughter Missie. She accepts his proposal as a temporary solution.
Santa, Jr.
Original Music Composer
While delivering toys, Santa's son (Nick Stabile) is arrested for trespassing. Dispirited, he turns for help to a public defender (Lauren Holly).
Mary, Mother of Jesus
Original Music Composer
Mary, Mother of Jesus is a 1999 made-for-television Biblical film that retells the story of Jesus through the eyes of Mary, his mother.
Escape Clause
Music
A man finds out that his wife has paid $10,000 to have him killed. Then both the would-be killer and the wife turn up dead ...
Diana: Her True Story
Music
Television film telling the story of Diana, Princess of Wales, based on the publication of the same name by Andrew Morton.
Lethal Exposure
Music
Ambitious photojournalist Chris Cassidy, on assignment in Paris, becomes involved with an unconventional French detective after having witnessed the airport slaying of a man handcuffed to him and decides she needs a good story to go with her picture.
Spies
Music
Long Island, 1942. 12-year-old Harry detects spies everywhere. But suddenly things get serious, as he and two evacuated London kids, Ned and Flo, stumble onto a real adventure. The children end up with America's destiny in their hands.
Bejewelled
Original Music Composer
An American's family jewels are stolen during her trip to London and she reluctantly teams up with a private investigator-in-training to try and recover them.
Bejewelled
Music
An American's family jewels are stolen during her trip to London and she reluctantly teams up with a private investigator-in-training to try and recover them.
Personals
Music
A woman that during the daytime is an insignificant librarian, at night becomes a fascinating mysterious dark lady. She uses the personal advertisements on the newspapers to obtain appointments with men then kills them. These murders last until the wife of one victim decides to investigate. Written by Paola Vaccari
The Trouble with Spies
Original Music Composer
George Trent, a British spy, has gone incommunicado in Ibiza. Appleton Porter (Donald Sutherland) is sent to find out what happened to Trent. Porter settles into a small hotel with several busybody guests. He probes them for information about Trent, their former neighbor. Meanwhile, the spy survives several attempts on his life as he attempts to solve the mystery.
The Protector
Original Music Composer
Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate.
My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn
Original Music Composer
The life and wanton times of Errol Flynn
Finders Keepers
Original Music Composer
On the run from the police and a female roller derby team, scam artist Michael Rangeloff steals a coffin and boards a train, pretending to be a soldier bringing home a dead war buddy. He gets more than he bargained for from the train and the coffin.
The Evil That Men Do
Conductor
Professional killer Holland is forced out of retirement to break a Central American government's political torture ring when one of his friends, a Latin American journalist, is killed. The murderer, Doctor Clement Molloch, is the master sadist behind the political torture of innocent victims. Posing as a journalist, Holland lures Molloch out of his fortress-like headquarters by using his murdered friend's wife and daughter as bait. When Holland kidnaps Molloch's sister, the doctor is led on a wild chase that takes him to an abandoned opal mine where he finally comes face to face with Holland.
The Evil That Men Do
Original Music Composer
Professional killer Holland is forced out of retirement to break a Central American government's political torture ring when one of his friends, a Latin American journalist, is killed. The murderer, Doctor Clement Molloch, is the master sadist behind the political torture of innocent victims. Posing as a journalist, Holland lures Molloch out of his fortress-like headquarters by using his murdered friend's wife and daughter as bait. When Holland kidnaps Molloch's sister, the doctor is led on a wild chase that takes him to an abandoned opal mine where he finally comes face to face with Holland.
Lassiter
Original Music Composer
Scotland Yard and the FBI force a thief and his girlfriend to steal Nazi diamonds from a German countess.
Superman III
Original Music Composer
Aiming to defeat the Man of Steel, wealthy executive Ross Webster hires bumbling but brilliant Gus Gorman to develop synthetic kryptonite, which yields some unexpected psychological effects in the third installment of the 1980s Superman franchise. Between rekindling romance with his high school sweetheart and saving himself, Superman must contend with a powerful supercomputer.
The House Where Evil Dwells
Original Music Composer
At the prompting of his diplomat friend, Alex, writer Ted Fletcher takes his wife, Laura, and daughter, Amy, on an extended working holiday. Alex finds a house for them in Kyoto, Japan, and the Fletchers move in, laughing off rumors that the place is haunted. But the ghost of 19th-century samurai Shigero turns out to be very real, and is intent on making the family re-enact an ancient murder-suicide.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Music
Quasimodo, the hunchback bellringer of Notre Dame's cathedral, meets a beautiful gypsy dancer, Esmeralda, and falls in love with her. So does Quasimodo's guardian, the archdeacon of the cathedral, and a poor street poet. But Esmeralda's in love with a handsome soldier. When a mob mistakes her for a witch, it's up to Quasimodo to rescue her and claim sanctuary for her in the cathedral.
Superman II
Original Music Composer
Three escaped criminals from the planet Krypton test the Man of Steel's mettle. Led by General Zod, the Kryptonians take control of the White House and partner with Lex Luthor to destroy Superman and rule the world. But Superman, who attempts to make himself human in order to get closer to Lois, realizes he has a responsibility to save the planet.
The Outsider
Original Music Composer
Michael Flaherty (Craig Wasson), an American Vietnam veteran of Irish descent, returns to Belfast to join the cause of his grandfather, Seamus (Sterling Hayden). Soon he finds that he is not as welcomed in his home country as he imagined he would be. Even worse, he's the target of an IRA assassination plot designed to make the British forces look bad in order to elicit financial support from wealthy Americans.
Wolf Lake
Original Music Composer
War veterans visit a lakeside cabin for a week of shooting, drinking, etc. but find the cabin being looked after by a young caretaker named David. When David's status as a war deserter is revealed, all hell breaks loose.
Arabian Adventure
Music
An evil caliph (Christopher Lee) offers his daughter’s hand in marriage to a prince if he can complete a perilous quest for a magical rose. Helped by a young boy and a magic carpet, Prince Hasan (Oliver Tobias), has to overcome genies, fire breathing monsters and treacherous swamps to reach his prize and claim the hand of the Princess Zuleira (Emma Samms).
Power Play
Music
A thriller, released 1st November 1978, based on the non-fiction book Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook by Edward N. Luttwak.
The Ritz
Music
On his deathbed Carmine Vespucci's father tells him to "get Proclo". With "the hit" on, Gaetano tells a cab driver to take him where Carmine can't find him. He arrives at the Ritz, a gay bathhouse.
Juggernaut
Music
A terrorist demands a huge ransom in exchange for information on how to disarm the seven bombs he has planted aboard a trans-Atlantic cruise ship.
Hannie Caulder
Original Music Composer
Hannie enlists the aid of bounty hunter Tom Price to teach her how to be a gunfighter so she can hunt down the 3 men who killed her husband and raped her.
The Magic Christian
Original Music Composer
Sir Guy Grand, the richest man in the world, adopts a homeless man, Youngman. Together, they set out to prove that anyone--and anything--can be bought.
The Bed Sitting Room
Conductor
In the hazy aftermath of World War III, the fallout from a 'nuclear misunderstanding' is producing strange mutations amongst the survivors, and the noble Lord Fortnum finds himself transforming into a bed sitting room.
The Bed Sitting Room
Original Music Composer
In the hazy aftermath of World War III, the fallout from a 'nuclear misunderstanding' is producing strange mutations amongst the survivors, and the noble Lord Fortnum finds himself transforming into a bed sitting room.
Sinful Davey
Original Music Composer
Davey Haggart is quite certain of his paternity (even if nobody else is) and determined to emulate his father, a notorious rogue and highwayman. This includes breaking a man out of Stirling jail, holding up the stagecoach, and robbing the Duke of Argyll, among other feats. Unfortunately, he is handicapped by the fact that his childhood playmate Annie is equally determined to track him down and save his soul...
A Talent for Loving
Original Music Composer
This Western spoof stars Richard Widmark as an American gambler who wins the deed to a Mexican ranch from a cunning outlaw. At the ranch, the gambler discovers that his new lands have entangled him in an ancient Aztec curse. The ranch's patriarch tries to persuade the newcomer to marry his daughter and explains that the family's women are doomed to be especially fierce and prolific in their romantic encounters.
Inspector Clouseau
Original Music Composer
Detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau is borrowed from the Surete on special assignment for Scotland Yard in hopes that a fresh outlook will help the government recover the loot from the Great Train Robbery, which is being used to underwrite a new crime wave. What they don't count on, however, is having more than one Clouseau on the job.
How I Won the War
Original Music Composer
An inept British WWII commander leads his troops to a series of misadventures in North Africa and Europe.
How I Won the War
Conductor
An inept British WWII commander leads his troops to a series of misadventures in North Africa and Europe.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Music
A wily slave must unite a virgin courtesan and his young smitten master to earn his freedom.
Help!
Music Director
An obscure Eastern cult that practices human sacrifice pursues Ringo after he unknowingly puts on a ceremonial ring (that, of course, won't come off). On top of that, a pair of mad scientists, members of Scotland Yard, and a beautiful but dead-eyed assassin all have their own plans for the Fab Four.
Dead Man's Evidence
Music
When a British secret agent's body washes up on the coast of Ireland, evidence implies that he was a traitor providing information to the Russians.
It's Trad, Dad!
Original Music Composer
The hero and heroine want to popularize a trad jazz in their town. Some older people feel displeased about a trad jazz, and prevent their trying. The hero and heroine go to London television studio to ask trad jazz musician to support their trial.
Vengeance Is Mine
Original Music Composer
In this crime drama, a man learns that he has six months left to live, and before he dies he decides to get revenge against the man responsible for his incarceration. First he hires a man to kill him and frame the traitor. Later the fellow learns that he is not sick after all. Fortunately his hit man died. Later the man he wants to avenge has a final showdown with him. A struggle ensues and the fellow kills his enemy in self-defense.