- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJames Roy Horner
- Height5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
- James Horner began studying piano at the age of five, and trained at the Royal College of Music in London, England, before moving to California in the 1970s. After receiving a bachelor's degree in music at USC, he would go on to earn his master's degree at UCLA and teach music theory there. He later completed his Ph.D. in Music Composition and Theory at UCLA. Horner began scoring student films for the American Film Institute in the late 1970s, which paved the way for scoring assignments on a number of small-scale films. His first large, high-profile project was composing music for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), which would lead to numerous other film offers and opportunities to work with world-class performers such as the London Symphony Orchestra. With over 75 projects to his name, and work with people such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Oliver Stone, and Ron Howard, Horner firmly established himself as a strong voice in the world of film scoring. In addition, Horner composed a classical concert piece in the 1980s, called "Spectral Shimmers", which was world premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Horner passed away in a plane crash on June 22, 2015, two months short of his 62nd birthday.- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous
- SpouseSara Elizabeth Nelson(June 1985 - June 22, 2015) (his death, 2 children)
- Parents
- His scores had two or three main themes and one or two motifs
- Frequently used the shakuhachi (Ex: Braveheart (1995))
- Frequently represented bad guys with a distinctive four-note motif (also known as his "danger theme").
- Had tagged several scores with a distinctive four-note trumpet blast during an important moment in the film.
- Wrote the theme for the Universal Pictures logo used between 1990 and 1997.
- His score for Titanic (1997) is reportedly the biggest-selling orchestral soundtrack in history.
- Had followed Jerry Goldsmith by composing the scores for two sequels to movies Goldsmith scored: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) and Aliens (1986).
- Served as composer on three Oscar Winners for Best Pictures: Braveheart (1995), Titanic (1997), and A Beautiful Mind (2001).
- I had no idea who Jerry Goldsmith or John Williams were before I did The Hand (1981). I'm sure that I was influenced by Goldsmith's large orchestral scores when I started out, and that was because the people who employed me wanted that kind of sound. I wasn't in a position to say, 'Go to Hell!'
- [from an interview in December, 2014] I'm much choosier. I don't want to be doing these movies that now 85 or 90 composers want, as opposed to five or six. And now all these movies, action movies. I don't get offered all the movies obviously, but I see a lot of them and I do get asked to do a lot of them, and I just know they're not asking me to do something that I can do something original, they're asking me to do a formula and I'm too rebellious.
- [from 2009] My job -- and it's something I discuss with Jim [James Cameron] all the time -- is to make sure at every turn of the film it's something the audience can feel with their heart. When we lose a character, when somebody wins, when somebody loses, when someone disappears -- at all times I'm keeping track, constantly, of what the heart is supposed to be feeling. That is my primary role.
- [about his creative process] I don't use a computer when I write and I don't use a piano. I'm at a desk writing and it's very broad strokes and notes as colors on a palette. I think very abstractly when I'm writing. Then as the project moves on it becomes more like sculpting.
- What working for Roger [Roger Corman] did for me, was that it helped my procedural skills. How to produce music for literally nothing and how to write the best music for the films that they were.
- Titanic (1997) - $800,000 (plus $1.2$ per soundtrack CD sold)
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