---
name: "John Dankworth"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/john-dankworth"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "20 September 1927"
died: "6 February 2010"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-17T20:16:37.519488+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# John Dankworth

Composer. Born 20 September 1927 in Woodford, Essex, England, UK. Died 6 February 2010.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 20 September 1927, Woodford, Essex, England, UK
- **Died:** 6 February 2010
- **Also known as:** Johnny Dankworth, Sir John Phillip William „Johnny“ Dankworth
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.themoviedb.org/person/132879

## Streaming the US now

- **Peacock:** [*The Avengers*](https://film.one/tv/the-avengers-1961.md) (83)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Sir John Dankworth, also known as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist, clarinettist and bandleader. Born on 20 September 1927 in Woodford, Essex, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music and began his career in British jazz in the late 1940s. He led the Johnny Dankworth Seven and later a big band, and married jazz singer Cleo Laine in 1958.

From the early 1960s he composed film and television scores, often credited as Johnny Dankworth. His credits include the original theme for the television series *The Avengers* (1961) and scores for films such as *Saturday Night and Sunday Morning* (1960), *The Servant* (1963), *Darling* (1965), *Modesty Blaise* (1966) and *Accident* (1967). He also wrote the theme for *Tomorrow's World*.

Dankworth was appointed CBE in 1974 and knighted in 2006. He died on 6 February 2010 in London.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, theguardian.com, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Avengers* (1961), Fi1m 83, Music — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-avengers-1961.md)

## Also known for

- *The Servant* (1963), Original Music Composer, Conductor
- *Gangster No. 1* (2000), Original Music Composer
- *10 Rillington Place* (1971), Original Music Composer
- *Saturday Night and Sunday Morning* (1960), Original Music Composer
- *Darling* (1965), Original Music Composer, Conductor
- *Accident* (1967), Original Music Composer
- *Modesty Blaise* (1966), Original Music Composer
- *Sapphire* (1959), Musician

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/john-dankworth