Biography

Michael J Lewis, the award winning composer and producer was born in Aberystwyth, Wales. He trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he studied harmony, counterpoint and composition. His many film scores include Julius Caesar (1970) starring Charlton Heston, The Medusa Touch (1978) starring 'Richard Burton', 11 Harrowhouse (1974) starring James Mason, The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) starring Roger Moore and The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969) starring Katharine Hepburn for which he won the Ivor Novello Award. His 1973 Broadway show, 'Cyrano', earned the writers a Grammy nomination and the show's star, Christopher Plummer, a Tony Award. Michael's score for the 1979 TV animated adaptation of C.S. Lewis's _Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The (1979) (TV)_ won him a coveted Emmy Award. He moved from the UK to the USA in the 1980s and his first venture into American films, writing the score for The Rose and the Jackal (1990), starring Christopher Reeve, achieved an American Cable Excellence nomination. Michael J Lewis' last film score to date was for the 1994 martial arts thriller Deadly Target (1994). He currently divides his time composing, producing and recording between the USA and the UK. In the mid 1990s he formed his own company called Pen Dinas Productions, the first release in 1995 being the highly acclaimed double CD entitled 'Orchestral Film Music of Michael J Lewis', which received outstanding critical reviews.
- IMDb mini biography by: Simon Chafer

"The Passage" released in 1979, flopped during its theatrical run, but his unique score for that film led legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith to conduct a piece of Lewis's score from that film at the 70th Annual Academy Awards. Lewis's theme from "The Passage", the score of 'Appassionata', was used during the annual In Memoriam montage in which the Academy pays a very special tribute honoring motion picture and television actors that have passed away during the previous year.