Angela Morley

Angela Morley (born Walter Morley Stott, 10 March 1924 14 January 2009 ) was an English composer and conductor who became familiar to BBC Radio listeners in the 1950s under the name of Wally Stott. Morley provided incidental music for The Goon Show and Hancock's Half Hour. She attributed her entry into composing and arranging largely to the influence and encouragement of the Canadian light music composer Robert Farnon. Morley transitioned in 1972 and thereafter lived openly as a transgender woman.

Morley won three Emmy Awards for her work in music arrangement. These were in the category of Outstanding Music Direction, in 1985, 1988 and 1990, for Christmas in Washington and two television specials starring Julie Andrews. Morley also received eight Emmy nominations for composing music for television series such as Dynasty and Dallas. She was twice nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Original Song Score: first for The Little Prince (1974), a nomination shared with Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe, and Douglas Gamley; and second for The Slipper and the Rose (1976), which Morley shared with Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. She was the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Early life and education Morley was born in Leeds, Yorkshire on 10 March 1924 under the name of Walter Stott. or 1944. and was also the musical director for The Goon Show from the third series in 1952 to the last show in 1960, conducting the BBC Dance Orchestra. The next hits she worked on were Robert Earl's "I May Never Pass this Way Again" and Frankie Vaughan's "Tower of Strength". At this time, she was a regular guest conductor of the BBC Radio Orchestra

Morley continued to work in television until 1990. Morley was her original middle name; her birth was registered as Walter Morley Stott, Morley being her grandmother's maiden name. Her death was a result of complications of a fall and a heart attack. 1977 is a semi-fictional account of the year in which Morley was enlisted to complete composition of the musical soundtrack to the film Watership Down in three weeks, after Master of the Queen's Music Malcolm Williamson left the project. noting that:

Horak includes Morley among her selected list of trans and gender-variant filmmakers as a composer, noting in particular her work on The Little Prince and Watership Down alongside the film works of other transgender and gender-variant people in Classical Hollywood cinema such as Dorothy Arzner and Christine Jorgensen. and also by a blue plaque at her birthplace in Kirkstall. She is one of 383 women from Leeds whose names are on Ribbons – a sculpture celebrating women from the city, which was unveiled in October 2024.

Genre Morley's work was influenced by a number of genres and styles. She initially played in British dance bands, and spent much of her career composing music that was labelled as light and easy listening, as well as film scores and television soundtracks. Light music and easy listening were generally not taken seriously or given much respect at the time that Morley was composing, which Dubowsky credits partially to misogyny, due to the genre's association with femininity. Dubowsky acknowledges that the genre has been seen as derivative, bourgeois, and (in America) racially exclusionary, but calls for the genre and Morley's work to be reconsidered for its influence on film music and the technical skill required in its production. He also, in the conclusion to his chapter on Morley and Wendy Carlos, questions whether Morley was drawn to light music for its perceived feminine qualities.

Beyond her light and easy listening work, Morley collaborated with many kinds of artists at Philips Records, from folk music to rock and roll, produced her own recordings of music from Christmas music to show tunes, and later focused her attention on orchestral, classical and choral arrangements that went beyond the scope of light music and easy listening.

Morley credited her eventual turn away from film scores to technological changes: tape recording, new types of microphones, and the advent of stereophonic sound had reached the wider music industry, but not film. She wrote that "to go to a cinema to hear one's latest score was absolute torture." Nevertheless, she continued to work intermittently in film until 2002.

Characteristics of her compositions Her music for The Goon Show stood out as having "a jazz flavour, rather than the standard comedy-show music of that time." From some of her earliest composition works, Morley used instruments to represent characters, such as the tuba notes in the theme to Hancock's Half Hour which represented Tony Hancock. While Morley was working with Johnny Franz at Philips Records, Robert Earl noted that Morley and Franz "didn't believe in fade-out endings so all those ballads end on big notes".

Her work on film scores is noted for her "mastery of orchestration and gift for evoking moods and atmospheres" (in reference to The Slipper and the Rose and Watership Down) and "her strengths in swing, classical, and romantic period styles" (in reference to Watership Down). For Watership Down, Morley created a character theme for Kehaar, voiced by Zero Mostel. On "Kehaar's Theme", Dubowsky notes the influence of Claude Debussy and comments that:

He also notes that "Kehaar's Theme" incorporates polyrhythms and has an emphasis on string instruments, and that it draws from many of the genres Morley worked in: "classical, swing, jazz, light music, concert music, and film scoring". Speaking more broadly about the Watership Down score, Dubowsky also notes the effectiveness of "Violet's Gone" and "Venturing Forth".

Selected discography Credited as Wally Stott As leader Great American Show Tunes (1953), Epic There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), Epic A Merry Christmas (1958), Philips Music of the City....London under Columbia (1958), Philips (also released as London Pride and London Souvenir (A Musical Souvenir Of London Town) by Philips in the UK) Christmas in Stereo (1959), Warner Bros. (Christmas by the Fireside in the UK) Max Steiner's Complete Original Score Gone With The Wind (1967), Pickwick, conducting the London Symphonia

Contributing work Shirley Bassey, Love For Sale (1968), Philips (as arranger) Roy Castle, Castlewise (1961), Philips (as arranger) Noël Coward, I'll See You Again (1954), Philips (as arranger) Diana Dors, Swingin Dors (1960), Pye (as arranger) Robert Earl, Robert Earl Showcase (1959), Philips (as arranger) Susan Maughan, Sentimental Susan (1964), Philips (as arranger) St. Paul's Choir, The Sounds of Christmas (1971), Golden Hour (co-billing) Harry Secombe, Film Favourites (1964), Philips (as arranger) Harry Secombe, Christmas Cheer (1966), Philips (as arranger) (also released as White Christmas) Harry Secombe, Italian Serenade (1966), Philips (as arranger) Anne Shelton, Songs from the Heart (1958) Philips Scott Walker, Scott (1967), Philips (as arranger) Scott Walker, Scott 2 (1968), Philips (as arranger) Scott Walker, Scott 3 (1969), Philips (as arranger) Scott Walker (as Scott Engel), Scott 4 (1969), Philips (as arranger) Spellbound (2008), Vocalion Records (reissue)

Credited as Angela Morley The Slipper and the Rose (1976), MCA Records/EMI Records Watership Down (1978), CBS Records Soft Lights and Sweet Music: the Scores of Angela Morley (2001), Vocalion Records The Film and Television Music of Angela Morley (2003), Vocalion Records The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Arranger

Selected filmography The Heart of a Man (1959) The Lady Is a Square (1959) Peeping Tom (1960). Credited for the drum solo played on a tape-recorder during a dance routine. The Looking Glass War (1970) Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969) When Eight Bells Toll (1971) The Little Prince (1974) – Oscar nomination The Slipper and the Rose (1976) – Oscar nomination Watership Down (1978)

Awards and honours

Awards

1985: 37th Primetime Emmy Awards - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction for Christmas in Washington (with Ian Fraser and Billy Byers) 1988: 40th Primetime Emmy Awards - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction for Julie Andrews: The Sound of Christmas (with Ian Fraser, Chris Boardman, and Alexander Courage) 1990: 42nd Primetime Emmy Awards - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction for Julie Andrews in Concert (Great Performances) (with Ian Fraser, Billy Byers, Chris Boardman, Bob Florence, and J. Hill)

Nominations

1975: 47th Academy Awards - Academy Award for Best Scoring: Original Song Score and Adaptation or Scoring: Adaptation for The Little Prince (with Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe, and Douglas Gamley) 1978: 50th Academy Awards - Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score for The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella (with Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman) 1980: 32nd Primetime Emmy Awards - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction for The Big Show episode "Steve Lawrence and Don Rickles" (with Nick Perito, Joe Lipman, and Peter Myers) 1984: 36th Primetime Emmy Awards - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for Emerald Point N.A.S. episode "The Homecoming" 1985: 37th Primetime Emmy Awards - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for Dynasty episode "Triangles" 1986: 38th Primetime Emmy Awards - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for Dynasty episode "The Subpoenas" 1987: 39th Primetime Emmy Awards - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for Dallas episode "A Death in the Family" 1987: 39th Primetime Emmy Awards - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction for Liberty Weekend: Opening Ceremonies (with Ian Fraser, Chris Boardman, Ralph Burns, Alexander Courage, and J. Hill) 1988: 40th Primetime Emmy Awards - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for Dallas episode "Hustling" 1989: 41st Primetime Emmy Awards - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for Blue Skies episode "The White Horse"