Nick Glennie-Smith obit

Nick Glennie-Smith, 1951-2026

 

He was not on the list.

Composer, conductor and musician Nick Glennie-Smith died on August 16, 2026, after a period of ill-health. He was 74 years old.

One of the key figures in the development of the modern Hollywood action score, Glennie-Smith enjoyed a career spanning pop music, film, television and live performance. He was best known for The Rock, The Man in the Iron Mask, We Were Soldiers and Secretariat, as well as for his decades-long association with Hans Zimmer as composer, conductor and musical director.

Nicholas Glennie-Smith was born in London, England, on October 3, 1951. He began his professional career as a keyboard player, joining the progressive-rock group Wally in the 1970s and later performing or recording with artists including Leo Sayer, Cliff Richard, Roger Daltrey and Paul McCartney. He also worked with Roger Waters on When the Wind Blows and Radio K.A.O.S., and performed at Waters’s enormous 1990 production of The Wall in Berlin.

During the late 1980s Glennie-Smith became associated with Stanley Myers, and then subsequently with Hans Zimmer’s Media Ventures studio, which saw him relocate from the UK to Los Angeles. Initially he contributed additional music, conducting, keyboard performances, arrangements and orchestrations to films including K2, Cool Runnings, The House of the Spirits, The Lion King, Bad Boys, Crimson Tide and Beyond Rangoon. His combination of orchestral technique, electronic programming and practical experience as a performing musician made him particularly suited to the rapidly developing Media Ventures sound.

His breakthrough came with Michael Bay’s The Rock (1996), on which Glennie-Smith, Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams shared principal composing duties. The score’s pounding percussion, massed brass, synthesizers and broad heroic themes became hugely influential on Hollywood action music of the following decade and established Glennie-Smith as a composer in his own right.

He followed with Fire Down Below and Home Alone 3 in 1997 before writing one of his finest scores for Randall Wallace’s The Man in the Iron Mask (1998). Its sweeping themes, large orchestra and mixture of romance, tragedy and adventure gave Glennie-Smith an opportunity to work on a grand symphonic scale. The same year he scored Disney’s The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride, revealing a warmer and more lyrical side of his musical personality.

Wallace reunited with Glennie-Smith for We Were Soldiers (2002), perhaps the composer’s most emotionally powerful score. Written for orchestra, chorus and distinctive ethnic instruments, the music combined martial intensity with elegiac writing for the soldiers and their families. Glennie-Smith later worked with Wallace again on Heaven Is for Real (2014).

Other major assignments included Highlander: Endgame (2000), the television epic Attila (2001), Ella Enchanted (2004), A Sound of Thunder (2005), the Hungarian historical drama Children of Glory (2006) and Disney’s Secretariat (2010). He also composed extensively for the French historical theme park Puy du Fou, developing large-scale music for several of its spectacular productions.

Glennie-Smith remained equally important behind the podium. He conducted scores for films including the Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers series, The Simpsons Movie, X-Men: First Class, Rango and numerous other productions associated with Zimmer and his collaborators. In 2012 he conducted the orchestra for the Academy Awards ceremony, and later served as musical director for Hans Zimmer’s enormously successful live concerts.

Glennie-Smith was married to his wife Jan for more than three decades, and the couple had four children. His son, Seth Glennie-Smith, is also a music editor and composer.

was an English film score composer, conductor, and musician who was a frequent collaborator with Hans Zimmer, contributing to scores including The Rock (nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound), the 2006 historical film Children of Glory and the 1993 spy thriller Point of No Return. Glennie-Smith also composed the scores for the films Home Alone 3 (1997), The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), We Were Soldiers (2002), Secretariat (2010), the score for the Disney direct-to-video animated film The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998), Lauras Stern (2004), The Little Polar Bear 2: The Mysterious Island and A Sound of Thunder (both 2005).

Glennie-Smith was a part of Hans Zimmer's film score company Remote Control Productions, for which he conducted music for the soundtracks on Transformers (2007–2017), X-Men: First Class and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (both 2011). He was Zimmer's accompanist on the score for Man of Steel (2013).

Glennie-Smith was the master composer of the music in the French theme park le Puy du Fou. He collaborated with the former Pink Floyd bassist, Roger Waters. He worked on Waters' score for the 1986 film When the Wind Blows, then provided some of the keyboard overdubbing for the song "The Powers that Be" on Waters' 1987 Radio K.A.O.S. album. He performed at the 1990 concert The Wall Live in Berlin as a keyboardist alongside Peter Wood. He also toured in the 1980s with Cliff Richard, again playing keyboards. In 1987, he was responsible, with producer Vic Coppersmith-Heaven and singer Kenny Young, for the album Transmissions under the group name Gentlemen Without Weapons.

Nickolas Glennie-Smith was born on 3 October 1951 in London. In 1975 he started his musical career with the band Wally, performing keyboards on their second album, Valley Gardens. In 1980, he played keyboards on Leo Sayer's album Living in a Fantasy. Also in 1980, he started recording and touring with Cliff Richard, appearing on three albums, I'm No Hero (synthesizer), Wired for Sound (engineer, piano on one song), and The Rock Connection (synthesizer on one song).

Glennie-Smith is also known for his contributions to Roger Daltrey's solo albums, Under a Raging Moon (1985), and Can't Wait to See the Movie (1987), and Paul McCartney's solo albums Press to Play (1986), and Flowers in the Dirt (1989).

He also worked with many other artists including Phil Collins, Tina Turner, Elvis Costello, Pharrell Williams, Nik Kershaw, Duane Eddy, Katrina & the Waves, and The Adventures.

 

Filmography

As primary composer

Year     Title     Director(s)       Studio(s)          Notes

1996    Two If by Sea  Bill Bennett     Morgan Creek Productions

Warner Bros. Pictures

The Rock        Michael Bay   Hollywood Pictures     with Hans Zimmer & Harry Gregson-Williams

1997    Fire Down Below       Félix Enríquez Alcalá Warner Bros. Pictures —N/a

Home Alone 3 Raja Gosnell    20th Century Fox        —N/a

Cyclops, Baby D. J. Caruso    Touchstone Pictures    Short film

1998    The Man in the Iron Mask      Randall Wallace          Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

United Artists  —N/a

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride         Darrell Rooney           Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

DisneyToon Studios    Direct-to-video film

Max Q Michael Shapiro          Touchstone Television

ABC    Television film

1999    Michelle Kwan Skates to Disney's Greatest Hits       Steve Binder   ABC Family    Television film. Reuses music from The Jungle Book (1967), The Aristocats (1970), The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), Hocus Pocus (1993), The Lion King (1994), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998).

2000    Highlander: Endgame Doug Aarniokoski       Dimension Films         with Stephen Graziano

2001    Attila   Dick Lowry     Alphaville Films         Gerard Butler

2002    We Were Soldiers        Randall Wallace          Paramount Pictures     —N/a

2004    Ella Enchanted            Tommy O'Haver         Miramax Films            —N/a

Laura's Star     Piet De Rycker [fr]

Thilo Rothkirch [de]   Warner Bros. Pictures with Hans Zimmer and Henning Lohner

2005    A Sound of Thunder   Peter Hyams    —N/a

The Little Polar Bear 2 – The Mysterious Island        Piet De Rycker [fr]

Thilo Rothkirch [de]   Warner Bros. Pictures

Rothkirch Cartoon Film          with Hans Zimmer

2006    Children of Glory        Krisztina Goda            C2 Pictures      —N/a

2010    Secretariat        Randall Wallace          Walt Disney Pictures   —N/a

2013    A Belfast Story            Nathan Todd   Adnuco Pictures          —N/a

2014    Heaven Is for Real      Randall Wallace          TriStar Pictures           —N/a

2021    Laura's Star     Joya Thome     Warner Bros. Pictures with Hans Zimmer and Henning Lohner

With others

Year     Title     Director(s)       Composer(s)    Role

1986    When the Wind Blows            Jimmy T. Murakami    Roger Waters   Musician: Synthesizers

1990    Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead          Tom Stoppard  Stanley Myers

1991    Cold Heaven   Nicolas Roeg

K2       Franc Roddam Hans Zimmer

Chaz Jankel     Composer of Additional Music

1993    Calendar Girl  John Whitesell Hans Zimmer

Cool Runnings            Jon Turteltaub  Orchestrator & Composer of Additional Music

The House of the Spirits         Bille August    Orchestrator & Musician: Piano

1994    Monkey Trouble          Franco Amurri Mark Mancina Composer of Additional Music

The Lion King Roger Allers

Rob Minkoff

 

Hans Zimmer  Choral Conductor & Composer of Additional Music

Renaissance Man        Penny Marshall           Orchestrator & Composer of Additional Music

Drop Zone       John Badham  Composer of Additional Music

1995    Bad Boys        Michael Bay   Mark Mancina

Crimson Tide  Tony Scott       Hans Zimmer  Orchestrator & Conductor

Beyond Rangoon        John Boorman Conductor & Composer of Additional Music

Two Deaths     Nicolas Roeg  Conductor

Nine Months   Chris Columbus          Composer of Additional Music

1996    The Preacher's Wife    Penny Marshall

1997    Smilla's Sense of Snow          Bille August    Harry Gregson-Williams

Hans Zimmer

2000    The Tigger Movie       Jun Falkenstein            Harry Gregson-Williams         Conductor

Mission: Impossible 2 John Woo        Hans Zimmer  Musician: Synthesizers

2001    Just Visiting     Jean-Marie Poiré         John Powell     Composer of Additional Music

2002    D-Tox  Jim Gillespie

The New Guy Ed Decter        Ralph Sall

2003    Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl         Gore Verbinski            Klaus Badelt

Hans Zimmer

2004    Thunderbirds   Jonathan Frakes          Ramin Djawadi

Hans Zimmer  Conductor

King Arthur     Antoine Fuqua Hans Zimmer  Conductor & Composer of Additional Music

2006    The Da Vinci Code     Ron Howard   Choral Conductor & Composer of Additional Music

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest  Gore Verbinski            Conductor & Composer of Additional Music

Déjà Vu           Tony Scott       Harry Gregson-Williams

2007    Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End       Gore Verbinski            Hans Zimmer

Transformers   Michael Bay   Steve Jablonsky          Conductor

License to Wed           Ken Kwapis    Christophe Beck

The Simpsons Movie  David Silverman         Hans Zimmer

2008    Vantage Point  Pete Travis       Atli Örvarsson

The Forbidden Kingdom        Rob Minkoff   David Buckley

Beverly Hills Chihuahua        Raja Gosnell    Heitor Pereira

2009    Angels & Demons      Ron Howard   Hans Zimmer

Imagine That   Karey Kirkpatrick       Mark Mancina

Surrogates       Jonathan Mostow        Richard Marvin

It's Complicated          Nancy Meyers Hans Zimmer

Heitor Pereira

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen  Michael Bay   Steve Jablonsky

2010    A Nightmare on Elm Street     Samuel Bayer

You Again       Andy Fickman Nathan Wang

How Do You Know    James L. Brooks         Hans Zimmer

2011    Rango  Gore Verbinski

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides   Rob Marshall

A Little Bit of Heaven Nicole Kassell Heitor Pereira

Winnie the Pooh         Stephen Anderson

Don Hall

 

Henry Jackman

X-Men: First Class      Matthew Vaughn

Your Highness David Gordon Green  Steve Jablonsky

Transformers: Dark of the Moon        Michael Bay

2012    Battleship        Peter Berg

Savages           Oliver Stone    Adam Peters

Wreck-It Ralph           Rich Moore     Henry Jackman

2013    G.I. Joe: Retaliation    Jon M. Chu

This Is the End            Seth Rogen

Evan Goldberg

 

Gangster Squad           Ruben Fleischer          Steve Jablonsky

Despicable Me 2         Pierre Coffin

Chris Renuad  Heitor Pereira

Pharrell Williams

Man of Steel    Zack Snyder    Hans Zimmer

The Lone Ranger        Gore Verbinski

Pacific Rim     Guillermo del Toro     Ramin Djawadi

Captain Phillips           Paul Greengrass          Henry Jackman

2014    Winter's Tale   Akiva Goldsman         Hans Zimmer

Rupert Gregson-Williams

300: Rise of an Empire           Zack Snyder    Junkie XL

The Amazing Spider-Man 2   Marc Webb     Hans Zimmer

Pharrell Williams

Johnny Marr

Mike Einziger

Junkie XL

Steve Mazzaro

Andrew Kawczynski

Million Dollar Arm     Craig Gillespie            A. R. Rahman

Transformers: Age of Extinction         Michael Bay   Steve Jablonsky

2015    Run All Night  Jaume Collet-Serra      Junkie XL

Pixels   Chris Columbus          Henry Jackman

The Little Prince         Mark Osborne Hans Zimmer

Richard Harvey

Black Mass      Scott Cooper   Junkie XL

2016    Deadpool         Tim Miller

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice            Zack Snyder    Hans Zimmer

Junkie XL

2017    Fist Fight         Richie Keen    Dominic Lewis

Sandy Wexler  Steven Brill     Rupert Gregson-Williams

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales    Joachim Rønning

Espen Sandberg          Geoff Zanelli

Despicable Me 3         Pierre Coffin

Kyle Balda

 

Heitor Pereira

Transformers: The Last Knight           Michael Bay   Steve Jablonsky

Hans Zimmer: Live in Prague Tim Van Someren       Hans Zimmer  Musical director

Geostorm         Dean Devlin    Lorne Balfe     Conductor

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle         Jake Kasdan    Henry Jackman

2018    Game Over, Man!       Kyle Newacheck         Steve Jablonsky

Smallfoot         Karey Kirkpatrick       Heitor Pereira

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween  Ari Sandel       Dominic Lewis

Ralph Breaks the Internet        Rich Moore

Phil Johnston   Henry Jackman

Aquaman         James Wan      Rupert Gregson-Williams

2019    Dark Phoenix  Simon Kinberg            Hans Zimmer

The Lion King Jon Favreau

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil   Joachim Rønning        Geoff Zanelli

Jumanji: The Next Level        Jake Kasdan    Henry Jackman

2020    Bad Boys for Life      

Adil El Arbi

Bilall Fallah

Lorne Balfe

Bloodshot        David S. F. Wilson      Steve Jablonsky

2022    Minions: The Rise of Gru       Kyle Balda      Heitor Pereira  Booth Reader

Bullet Train     David Leitch   Dominic Lewis           Conductor

The Son           Florian Zeller  Hans Zimmer

Strange World Don Hall         Henry Jackman

2024    Despicable Me 4         Chris Renaud  Heitor Pereira  Booth Reader

Dear Santa       Bobby Farrelly            Rupert Gregson-Williams

Mufasa: The Lion King          Barry Jenkins  Dave Metzger  Songs Conductor