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Timeless Movie Themes: James Bond
Before Sean Connery strapped on Bond’s first Walther PPK…
Before John Barry orchestrated music for the first Bond film…
Before Cubby Broccoli had any inkling of making movies about a suave super-spy…
There was British singer Monty Norman, who wrote a tune called Bad Sign, Good Sign for his canceled musical, A House for Mr. Biswas. This tune would eventually become the internationally known James Bond theme.
Norman abandoned a successful singing career to pursue the life of a composer/lyricist, and from 1958 to 1960, the multi-talented Londoner enjoyed five well-received musicals, including the popular Irma La Douce. In 1961, producer Cubby Broccoli saw Norman’s show Belle or The Ballad of Doctor Crippen and loved it.
Having recently secured the rights to author Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, Broccoli and new partner Harry Saltzman asked Norman to write the theme music to the first Bond movie, Dr. No. After a free trip to Jamaica became part of the deal, Norman agreed, and it was during this working trip that he met and got to know the entire cast and crew, including young actors Sean Connery and Ursula Andress.
