Help! composer Thorne dead at 90

By Stef Lach
( Classic Rock )
published

Englishman also wrote scores for Superman movies and Monkees comedy

Television and movie score composer Ken Thorne has died at the age of 90 in a California hospital.

Thorne wrote a series of film scores, most notably Beatles comedy Help!, Superman II and Superman III as well as the Monkees film Head. He was nominated for a Grammy for his work on Help!

According to the LA Times, Thorne’s wife Linda said he died of natural causes at the West Hills Hospital And Medical Centre.

Born in Norfolk, England in 1924, Thorne relocated permanently to America when he started work on the Superman films.

Stef Lach

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.