John Barry Prendergast – he dropped his last name – was born in 1933, the son of a Yorkshire cinema-owner. In the early 1960s, after a successful pop career, he moved into cinema, working on dozens of films in many genres, though he is probably best-known for his James Bond scores. For "Out of Africa" (1985) director Sidney Pollock wanted the music to tell most of the story of author Karen Blixen’s life in Africa. Barry won the third of his four Oscars for the lush score, whose full-throated romantic main theme has a tender introduction.