BG
Barry Gray
Composer, Additional Credits
Born July 18, 1908Died April 26, 1984 (75 years)
Although many reference sources inexplicably give Barry Gray's year of birth as 1925, he was in fact born John Livesey Eccles in Blackburn on 18 July 1908. His father John Haworth Eccles was a stationery traveller by profession, but both parents were said to be musically talented, and John Junior went to study at the Royal Manchester College of Music and at Blackburn Cathedral, learning composition from Matyas Seiber. His professional music career began with London publishers B. Feldman & Co. where he arranged scores for variety theatres, and he also worked for Radio Normandy. After war service with the R.A.F. he became a freelance composer and lyricist for radio, records and film music libraries. He joined the Performing Right Society in 1947 under his real name, but later changed it by deed poll to John Livesey Barry Gray. After several years as musical assistant to Eartha Kitt, Hoagy Carmichael and Vera Lynn, in 1956 he began a long and successful association with producers Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, scoring popular marionation series such as Twizzle, Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray and Thunderbirds. He continued to compose independently, sometimes using the pseudonyms John Livesey, Gene Durant or Martin Jerbourg (a character in Bergerac). Barry Gray himself moved to the Channel Islands in 1970, settling in St Peter-in-the-Wood in Guernsey and with a music studio in St Peter Port, and occasionally guesting as pianist at island venues. He died of heart disease at Guernsey's Princess Elizabeth Hospital on 26 April 1984, age 75. His music continues to find favour with film makers, particularly the ever-popular Thunderbirds March which enjoyed a notable revival in the expensive Thunderbirds remake of 2004.
Barry Gray Filmography
| 2025 | Thunderbirds 60th Anniversary Double Bill - Trapped in the Sky / Terror in New York City · as Original Music Composer |
| 2025 | Thunderbirds: Fab at 60 · as Composer |
| 2022 | Presented in Supercolorisation (TV Series) · as Original Music Composer |
| 2022 | Stand by for Action! Gerry Anderson in Concert · as Original Music Composer |
| 2020 | Nebula-75 (TV Series) |
| 2018 | |
| 2015 | Thunderbirds: The Anniversary Episodes (TV Series) |
| 2014 | |
| 2014 | |
| 1982 | Cosmic Princess · as Composer |
| 1982 | Journey Through the Black Sun · as Composer |
| 1982 | |
| 1981 | |
| 1981 | |
| 1981 | |
| 1981 | |
| 1980 | |
| 1980 | |
| 1980 | |
| 1980 | |
| 1976 | Alien Attack · as Composer |
| 1975 | Space: 1999 (TV Series) · as Original Music Composer |
| 1974 | |
| 1973 | |
| 1970 | UFO (TV Series) · as Original Music Composer |
| 1969 | The Secret Service (TV Series) |
| 1969 | Journey to the Far Side of the Sun · as Original Music Composer |
| 1968 | Joe 90 (TV Series) |
| 1968 | Thunderbird 6 · as Original Music Composer |
| 1967 | Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (TV Series) |
| 1966 | Thunderbirds Are GO · as Original Music Composer |
| 1966 | |
| 1965 | Thunderbirds (TV Series) |
| 1965 | |
| 1964 | |
| 1963 | |
| 1963 | |
| 1962 | Fireball XL5 (TV Series) |
| 1961 | |
| 1960 | Crossroads to Crime · as Original Music Composer |
| 1960 | Four Feather Falls (TV Series) |
| 1959 | Torchy the Battery Boy (TV Series) · as Composer |
| 1957 | The Adventures Of Twizzle (TV Series) · as Composer |
| 1962 | The Merv Griffin Show (TV Series) · as Self - Guest |
| 1950 | Four Star Revue (TV Series) · as Self - Guest Composer |
| 2022 | Presented in Supercolorisation (TV Series) · as Idea |
| 1966 | Fahrenheit 451 · as Sound Effects |
| 1960 | Four Feather Falls (TV Series) · as Idea |