Johnny Douglas (19 June 1920 – 20 April 2003) was an English composer, pianist, musical director, conductor, and string arranger primarily working with film scores and orchestras.
[1][6][2] In addition to films, Douglas composed and conducted music for television series including Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends,[7][8] Dungeons & Dragons,[9] The Incredible Hulk,[10] G.I.
[10] He showed an innate talent for music at a very young age; by two and a half, he could play a song he had heard on one of his father's records on the piano.
[6][13] He arranged a number of BBC programs and for many famous bands including Bert Ambrose, Ted Heath, and Edmundo Ros.
[1][6][2] Douglas' broadcasting career began in 1955 with BBC, where he hosted the programme In the Still of the Night, which featured his own orchestra, the Johnny Douglas Orchestra[16][1][14][5] In the 1960s, as he began moving towards film scoring, he hosted another radio show called Swing Song and arranged for stars such as Shirley Jones, Howard Keel, Vera Lynn, and Shirley Bassey.
[13][6] During the 1970s, Douglas was a frequent guest on BBC Radio 2 programmes such as Open House, Top Tunes, After Seven, The Terry Wogan Show, and Charlie Chester's Sunday Soapbox.
[1] By the end of 1999, he had written and conducted his first two symphonic poems, The Conquest and The Aftermath, both recorded by an orchestra composed of his friends and colleagues.
[12] During his career, Douglas worked with a range of musical artists, including Shirley Abicair,[18] Moira Anderson,[19] Bert Ambrose,[1] Shirley Bassey,[1][5] Stanley Black,[13] John Boulter,[20] June Bronhill,[16][1][21] Max Bygraves,[1] Frank Chacksfield,[13] Billy Cotton,[1] Cyril Stapleton Band,[1] Maggie Fitzgibbon,[16] Susan Hampshire,[13] Ted Heath,[1] Anne Heywood,[18] Vince Hill,[22] Frankie Howerd,[1][18] David Hughes[16] Neville Jason,[16][21] The Johnston Brothers,[18] Shirley Jones,[5] Howard Keel,[5] Elizabeth Larner,[16][23] Barbara Leigh,[16] Joe Lossm[6] Vera Lynn,[1][18][13] Ken Mackintosh,[24] Mantovani,[1][6] Alfred Marks,[13] Al Martino,[1][14][18] Chas McDevitt,[18] Kenneth McKellar,[1][13] Mike Preston,[18] Joan Regan,[6][18] Tex Ritter,[6][1] Malcolm Roberts,[13] Edmundo Ros,[1] Patricia Routledge,[13] Lita Roza,[6][18][13] Mike Sammes,[23][18] Harry Secombe,[1][13] Semprini,[13] Anne Shelton,[1][13] Barbra Streisand,[1] Jimmy Tarbuck,[13] Vico Torriani,[18] Dickie Valentine,[6][18] Frankie Vaughan,[1] David Whitfield,[25] Eric Winstone,[13] Mark Wynter,[13] Yana,[26] and Jimmy Young[13]