Biography

Brian studied under Gordon Jacob and Armstrong Gibbs at the RCM (Royal College of Music). He wrote his first opera (Rapunzel) at the age of 17 and at age 20 had the honor of having a Dead March processional he had written performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir 'Malcolm Sargent'. Brian served with the Royal Artillery during WWII but spent a lot of that time working as a composer for various government Film Units composing the music for training films and propaganda works. His major film work was done for the famous team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger with suitably dramatic scores for Black Narcissus (1947) and most famously The Red Shoes (1948). When their regular composer 'Allan Gray' failed to deliver what they wanted for The Red Shoes (1948) Powell & Pressburger turned to Easdale. He wrote the complete ballet score complete with innovations such as the mysterious Ondes Martenot.
- IMDb mini biography by: Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>

Easdale studied conducting at the Royal College of Music with Sir Malcom Sargent. There he met Benjamin Britten who introduced him to the film world. Brian Easdale became the first British composer to receive and Oscar for film music(for "The Red Shoes"). He kept the statuette on his mantle shelf. Whilst in India, he met and befriended Rumer Godden (which eventually led to him scoring "Black Narcissus" for Powell and Pressburger). He had a 20 year battle with alcoholism which he eventually managed to conquer. His personal motto was: "I shall never give in!" At the end of his life, he was planning some kind of multi-media work based on de Quincey's "Confessions of an English Opium Eater". In 1994, he presented a screening of "The Red Shoes" at the National Film Theatre and Michael Kamen arranged for him to present an award for best film music at the Ivor Novello Awards that year. He died, following a short illness, in 1995.
- IMDb mini biography by: Rodney Newton (Music Consultant, London Film School)

Eight of his twelve feature-film scores were for films directed by Michael Powell, and he also scored a documentary Powell made for television. He also scored a film written by Powell's former partner Emeric Pressburger after the team had broken up.