John Williams

Sound · 2.0 popularity

Age

Movies

Born: February 8, 1932
From: Queens, New York City, New York, USA
Website: Visit site

Biography

John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer and conductor. In a career that has spanned seven decades, he has composed some of the most popular, recognizable, and critically acclaimed film scoresin cinema history. He has a distinct sound that mixes romanticism, impressionism and atonal music with complex orchestration. He is best known for his collaborations with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and has received numerous accolades including 26 Grammy Awards, five Academy Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. With 54 Academy Award nominations, he is the second-most nominated person, after Walt Disney, and is the oldest Oscar nominee in any category, at 91 years old. Williams's early work as a film composer includes Valley of the Dolls (1967), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), Images and The Cowboys (both 1972), The Long Goodbye (1973) and The Towering Inferno (1974). He has collaborated with Spielberg since The Sugarland Express (1974), composing music for all but five of his feature films. He received five Academy Awards for Best Score for Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Schindler's List (1993). Other memorable collaborations with Spielberg include Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the Indiana Jones franchise (1981–2023), Hook (1991), Jurassic Park (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Catch Me If You Can (2002), War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012), and The Fabelmans (2022). He also scored Superman (1978), the first two Home Alone films (1990–1992), and the first three Harry Potter films (2001–2004). Williams has also composed numerous classical concertos and other works for orchestral ensembles and solo instruments. He served as the Boston Pops' principal conductor from 1980 to 1993 and is its laureate conductor. Other works by Williams include theme music for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games; NBC Sunday Night Football; "The Mission" theme (used by NBC News and Seven News in Australia); and the television series Lost in Space, Land of the Giants and Amazing Stories. Among other accolades, he has received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2004, the National Medal of the Arts in 2009 and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2016. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1998, the Hollywood Bowl's Hall of Fame in 2000 and the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2004. He has composed the score for nine of the top 25 highest-grossing films at the U.S. box office. In 2022, Williams was appointed an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II, "for services to film music". In 2005, the American Film Institute placed Williams's score to Star Wars first on its list AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores; his scores for Jaws and E.T. also made the list. The Library of Congress entered the Star Wars soundtrack into the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Description above from the Wikipedia article John Williams, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Works

76 films

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

20196.3

Ennio

20228.3

Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story

20257.5

Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford

20237.7

Music by John Williams

20248.1

Score: A Film Music Documentary

20177.2

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound

20196.9

The Shark Is Still Working

20097.3

The Beginning: The Making of Star Wars Episode I

20017.3

Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy

20047.6

The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story

20097.3

Spielberg

20177.5

Star Wars: The Magic & the Mystery

19978.0

The Skywalker Legacy

20207.8

If These Walls Could Sing

20226.5

2024 Disney Legends Awards Ceremony

20246.0

Return to Jurassic Park

20116.6

John Williams: A Legacy In Sound

20247.0

Within a Minute: The Making of Star Wars Episode III

20057.2

Star Wars: Music by John Williams

19807.3

The Fabelmans: A Family in Film

20237.1

When Star Wars Ruled the World

20048.8

Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen

20226.0

The Making of 'The Lost World'

19976.9

John Williams in Tokyo

20248.4

Catch Me If You Can: Behind the Camera

20037.9

The Royal Variety Performance 1977

1977

SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back

19808.3

No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos

20095.6

The Making of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

20236.6

Johnny Mercer: The Dream's on Me

20097.2

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge - Adventure Awaits

20196.1

From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga

19837.4

Jaws: The Inside Story

20107.3

Music

2010

Lincoln: An American Journey

20135.5

The Stories of West Side Story

20227.3

Star Wars: A Musical Journey

20057.1

The Making of '1941'

19966.7

The 'E.T.' Journals

201210.0

John Williams: The Berlin Concert

20217.2

Plotting 'Family Plot'

20016.9

Frankie Laine: An American Dreamer

20065.0

John Williams: Live in Vienna

20209.1

The Secret Policeman’s Biggest Ball

19897.7

The Music of 'Indiana Jones'

20036.2

The Making of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'

20017.1

The Making of 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'

19967.4

The Making of 'Jaws'

19956.8

Anne-Sophie Mutter - Vivace

2023

Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?

20044.8

The Hollywood Soundtrack Story

1995

The Making of The Empire Strikes Back

19808.0

John Williams at the BBC

20165.0

Montage: Great Film Composers and The Piano

2026

Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration

2013

Making 'Superman': Filming the Legend

20017.2

Henry Mancini: 100 at the Hollywood Bowl

2024

John Williams: The Seventh Symphony

20166.0

Taking Flight: The Development of 'Superman'

20017.6

The Revamping of Dracula

20046.5

In the Teeth of Jaws

19978.0

Building a Scene

20035.0

A Conversation with the Masters: The Empire Strikes Back 30 Years Later

2011

John Williams Live - Music from the Movies

2021

A John Williams Celebration

20157.2

You Will Believe: The Cinematic Saga of Superman

20066.0

The Music of E.T.: A Discussion with John Williams

20025.0

Live at the Shrine! John Williams and the World Premiere of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversary

20268.0

A World Without Beethoven?

20207.2

AFI's Master Class - The Art of Collaboration: Steven Spielberg and John Williams

20118.0

Leonard Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood

201810.0

Deconstructing Dad: The Music, Machines and Mystery of Raymond Scott

20105.8

Williams: Violin Concerto No. 2 & Selected Film Themes

2022

Anne-Sophie Mutter, John Williams & Friends: Beethoven and Williams

2022

Love Will Tear Us Apart

2007