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JohnCharles

  • Composer
  • Director
john-charles-key-profile.jpg

The varied CV of John Charles includes composing music for classic movies Goodbye Pork Pie, Utu and The Quiet Earth. Charles worked in television on both sides of the Tasman, including time as Head of Entertainment for Television One, and directing duties on landmark drama series Pukemanu and early comedy Buck House. Charles passed away on 7 May 2024. 

Screenography

In Memoriam 2024
2024 Subject Short film
Utu Redux
2013 Composer Film
Spooked
2005 Composer Film
Blerta Revisited
2001 Performer, Musical Arrangements Film
Numero Bruno
2000 Subject, Composer Television

Biography

John Charles is best-known in New Zealand as one of the country’s first composers to make his mark on film, thanks to his varied and distinctive scores for classics Goodbye Pork Pie, Utu and The Quiet Earth. He also spent time working in television as a producer and executive. 

Awards

1995 New Zealand Film and Television Awards
Nominated for Best Film Score: for The Last Tattoo
Nominated for Best Original Music - Television: for Fallout

“[John Charles' score] takes risks, and most of the time the risks come off gloriously.”

— Pauline Kael reviewing Utu in The New Yorker

Related images

Utu-Gallery-12.jpg
Geoff Murphy and then wife Pat Robins arrive for the premiere of Utu in Napier, in January 1983. Disembarking from the cart are John Charles, who composed the soundtrack, and his wife Judy.
Photographer: Barry Durrant. Kindly provided by The Dominion Post.
Derek-Morton-Gallery-2.jpg
Shots from the making of unfinished musical The Magic Hammer. Geoff Murphy is pushing the dolly (mobile camera platform), while Derek Morton is behind the camera, which is enclosed in homemade, soundproof housing and mounted on a beer crate.
Kindly supplied by Geoff Murphy.
Derek-Morton-Gallery-1.jpg
A shot of the village set created for unfinished film The Magic Hammer. Derek Morton is behind the camera. The set was pre-fabricated in Geoff Murphy's garage in Wellington, then transported to the site in Makara on the roof of his Morris Minor.
Kindly supplied by Geoff Murphy.
Derek-Morton-Gallery3.jpg
The three witches from Geoff Murphy and Derek Morton's unfinished film The Magic Hammer: Cackle (played by Christine Olsen), Lop (Mary Wootton), and Zap (Catherine Slavof). Photo believed to have been taken by Barry Clothier.
Kindly supplied by Mary Wootton (née Wheeler)