CONTI, BILL

Contributed by: The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia by Steven Jay Rubin

(April 13, 1942–     ): Academy Award–winning American film composer, well known for his Rocky music, who contributed the lighthearted score on For Your Eyes Only. He also collaborated with lyricist Mick Leeson to craft the film’s title song, for which they received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, losing to “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” from the Dudley Moore comedy Arthur.

A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Conti received his Oscar for scoring The Right Stuff (1983). Along with lyricists Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins, Conti was also nominated for the song “Gonna Fly Now” from Rocky (they lost to the song “Evergreen” from A Star Is Born). Conte made his film-composing debut on the Spanish-language feature A Candidate for a Killing (1969). In addition to assignments on multiple Rocky and Karate Kid films, some of his more notable movie scores include Blume in Love (1973), Harry and Tonto (1974), Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976), Broadcast News (1987), and The Thomas Crown Affair (1999).

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