Peter Thomas was born on December 1, 1925 in Breslau, Germany. He grew up in Berlin where he took piano lessons in grade school and later became the organist at the Church of the Redeemer. After World War II he returned home to Berlin and played piano in several clubs and learned from the Russians, Americans, French and British a number of different songs and styles of music. In 1949 he began studying at the Mohr Conservatory, graduating in 1953. He then worked as an arranger for RIAS and was the musical supervisor of a weekly radio show “Berliner Feuilleton”. Starting in 1958 he worked in television recording scores for the series “Am grünen Strand der Spree” and “Durbridge-Mehrteiler Es ist soweit” both in 1960. In 1961 he won an award for best film score for the film “Flucht nach Berlin” and again for 1963's score for “Die endlose Nacht”. He then gained fame for his score to the Edgar Wallace film “Die seltsame Gräfin”. He’s also well known for his 8 scores for the Jerry Cotton film series. During the 1960s Thomas scored music for various film genres including two Euro-westerns “The Last Tomahawk” and the Winnetou film “Thunder at the Border” both from 1966. In the 1970s he composed scores for both TV and films such as “Der Kommissar”. Peter has composed more than 550 scores for film, TV and radio. Peter’s last score was for the TV film ‘Ein Leben wie im Flug’ in 2007. Peter died last year in Lugano, Switzerland on June 17, 2020.
THOMAS, Peter (Gil Francropolus) [12/1/1925, Breslau, Silesia, Germany – 6/17/2020, Lugano, Switzerland] – writer, composer, arranger, songwriter, actor, married to actress, songwriter Gil Francropolus (Cordula ‘Cordy’ Ritter) [19-2017] (1959-2017) father of lawyer Philip Thomas, founded the publishing companies Peter Thomas Musikverlag and Peter Thomas KG.
The Last Tomahawk* – 1964 (co)
Thunder at the Border* – 1966
Cassy – 1975
My Friend Winnetou (TV) – 1979
*Available on CD
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