Richard Hartley is a British composer.

His work is extensive and varied, including musical arrangement for theatre and many scores for television and film. In the 1970s he began a long association with Richard O'Brien

Richard O'Brien

Richard Timothy Smith , better known under his stage name Richard O'Brien, is an English writer, actor, television presenter and theatre performer. He is perhaps best known for writing the cult musical The Rocky Horror Show and for his role in presenting the popular TV show The Crystal Maze...

. Hartley was originally part of the four-piece band for the Rocky Horror Show. He went on to arrange the score for the London Stage show. He then went on to provide arrangements for the film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the 1975 film adaptation of the British rock musical stageplay, The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O'Brien. The film is a parody of B-movie, science fiction and horror films of the late 1940s through early 1970s. Director Jim Sharman collaborated on the...

, and its follow-up Shock Treatment

Shock Treatment

Shock Treatment is a 1981 musical-black comedy film and a follow-up to the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. While not an outright sequel, the movie does feature several characters from the movie portrayed by different actors and several Rocky Horror actors portraying new characters...

, and worked with O'Brien on another, as yet unproduced, sequel, Revenge of the Old Queen

Revenge of the Old Queen

Revenge of the Old Queen is the title of the intended third film in The Rocky Horror Picture Show comedy-horror musical trilogy. The script was written in the late 1980s by Richard O'Brien, who had also written Rocky Horror Picture Show and its follow-up, Shock Treatment. The script features...

.

In the 1980s, Hartley worked primarily in television, including providing the music for the 1986 Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

story Mindwarp

Mindwarp

Mindwarp is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 4 October to 25 October 1986. It is part of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord, encompassing the whole of the 23rd season...

. However, he also composed for film, including the score for the film Sheena

Sheena (film)

Sheena is a 1984 Columbia Pictures film based on a comic-book character that first appeared in the late 1930s, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.A hybrid of action-adventure and soap opera-style drama, Sheena was shot on location in Kenya...

, for which Hartley was nominated

1984 Golden Raspberry Awards

The 5th Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 24, 1985 at Vine Street Elementary School in Hollywood, California, to recognize the worst the movie industry had to offer in 1984. Classic German silent film Metropolis was nominated for two Razzies, both for Giorgio Moroder's new score for the...

 for a Golden Raspberry Award, the 1983 film The Return of Captain Invincible

The Return Of Captain Invincible

The Return of Captain Invincible is a 1983 Australian musical comedy and superhero film starring Alan Arkin and Christopher Lee.-Plot:The plot involves the Captain America/Superman inspired super-hero called "Captain Invincible" who is active during World War II and afterwards...

, and the film Bad Blood

Bad Blood (1981 film)

Bad Blood is a 1982 British-New Zealand thriller film set in the small West Coast town of Koiterangi , during World War II, and is based on the factual manhunt for mass-murderer Stanley Graham. Directed by English director Mike Newell, much of the film was shot at the original locations. The script...

. However, one of his lesser known works is the music for The Fifth Dimension, a dark ride at Chessington World of Adventures

Chessington World of Adventures

Chessington World of Adventures Resort is a theme park and zoo in South West London, England. It lies south of Central London. Historically opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931, a theme park was developed alongside it, opening in 1987...

.

In the 1990s he provided the score for many films including Princess Caraboo

Princess Caraboo (film)

Princess Caraboo is a 1994 British-American historical comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Michael Austin, based on the real-life 19th-century character Princess Caraboo, who passed herself off in British society as an exotic princess who spoke a strange foreign language; she is portrayed...

, Victory

Victory (1995 film)

Victory is a 1996 film directed by Mark Peploe. The screenplay was written by Peploe based on the novel by Joseph Conrad.The novel previously has been adapted films multiple times including a 1919 silent version directed by Maurice Tourneur featuring Jack Holt, Seena Owen, Lon Chaney, Sr., and...

, Rogue Trader

Rogue Trader

Rogue trader can refer to*Rogue trader, person who trades financially in an unauthorised manner*Rogue Trader , the autobiography of Nick Leeson, the man who caused the collapse of Barings Bank...

, The Secret Rapture, and An Awfully Big Adventure

An Awfully Big Adventure

An Awfully Big Adventure is a 1995 British coming-of-age film directed by Mike Newell. The story focuses on a teenage girl who joins a seedy theatre troupe in Liverpool...

(the latter of which was released on CD).

Most recently, Hartley provided music for the acclaimed BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

/HBO film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers is a 2004 film about the life of English comic actor Peter Sellers, based on Roger Lewis' book of the same name...

in 2004 and most recently this year he wrote the music for the film Flashbacks of a Fool

Flashbacks of a Fool

Flashbacks of a Fool is a 2008 British drama film about a Hollywood actor who, following the death of his childhood best friend, reflects upon his life and what might have been, had he stayed in England...

.

Stage Productions

• Dionysius 73 (Harrowgate Opera House, 1973) – composer, musical director
• The Threepenny Opera (Sydney Opera House, 1973) – musical arrangements
• The Rocky Horror Show (Royal Court Theatre, 1973) – musical director
• Tooth of Crime (Royal Court Theatre, 1974) – musical director
• T. Zee (Royal Court Theatre, 1976) – composer, musical director
• The Rocky Horror Show (Broadway, 1975) – vocal and dance music arrangements
• Disaster (Institute of Contemporary Arts, 1978) – composer, musical director
• The Stripper (Sydney Theatre Company, 1982) – composer, musical director
• The Rocky Horror Show (London, 1990) – musical arrangements
• The Stripper (UK tour, 2009) – composer, musical director

External links