Composer George Fenton, Oscar-nominated for Gandhi, dies aged 76

Composer George Fenton has died aged 76, his family said. In a statement reported by the BBC on 5 October, the family said: "We are very sad to announce that George Fenton passed away unexpectedly today." The statement did not give a cause of death. It said he is survived by his wife Amanda, ex-wife Jane, children Gemma, Grace and Bridget, and grandchildren Lola, Audrey, Alfred, George, Frank and Beatrice.

Fenton received five Oscar nominations. The Guardian reported that his first came in 1982 for Gandhi, shared with Ravi Shankar, and that he was nominated twice for Cry Freedom, for best original score and best original song, the latter shared with Jonas Gwangwa. He was also nominated for Dangerous Liaisons. The Guardian said he wrote scores for more than 100 feature films.

He composed music for BBC television series including The Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Frozen Planet. The BBC reported that his work on Blue Planet won awards from Bafta, the Emmy Awards and the Ivor Novellos. He also wrote theme music for BBC News programmes including Newsnight and Breakfast Time.

The Guardian reported that he made 18 films with Ken Loach and 11 productions with Stephen Frears, including Dangerous Liaisons, Hero, Mary Reilly and Mrs Henderson Presents. He also scored Richard Attenborough's films Shadowlands, In Love and War and Grey Owl.

Fenton was born George Howe in Bromley, Kent, in 1949. The BBC reported that he adopted his mother's maiden name when he joined the actors' union Equity, whose rules barred two actors from sharing the same name. The Guardian said he took the stage name George Fenton in 1968, when he appeared in Alan Bennett's first West End production, Forty Years On.

The BBC reported that he had a top 10 hit in Sweden with a cover of The Beatles' Maxwell's Silver Hammer, and that in the mid-1970s he played the soldier Martin Gimbel in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale Farm. In 1974, The Guardian reported, he was commissioned to compose music for a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Twelfth Night. The BBC said that three weeks before his death he signed a worldwide publishing deal and said he was working on two new film scores and a musical.