John Williams

John Williams
John Williams
	Williams at the Avery Fisher Hall in 2007
Background information
Birth name	John Towner Williams
Born	February 8, 1932 (age 92); Queens, New York, U.S.
Genres	Film score, contemporary classical music, jazz
Occupation(s)	Composer, conductor, pianist
Years active	1952–present

John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer and conductor. He has composed many soundtracks for blockbuster movies such as Star Wars, Superman, Jaws, Jaws 2, Indiana Jones, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Lincoln.

Early life

William was born in Queens, New York City, New York on February 8, 1932.^[1] He studied at the University of California, Los Angeles and at the Julliard School. His parents were Esther and Johnny Williams.

Career

He is best known for his scores (soundtracks) for movies such as Jaws, Jaws 2, Star Wars, Superman, E.T., Indiana Jones, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Lincoln. He conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conducts for them a few times each year especially around Christmas time.

Williams has composed music for all but two of Steven Spielberg's movies (Duel and The Color Purple).

Williams conducting at Hollywood Bowl, September 2009

For Barack Obama's presidential inauguration on January 20, 2009, John Williams made a special arrangement of the Shaker hymn "Air and Simple Gifts". It was performed by four musicians: the violinist Itzhak Perlman, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the clarinetist Anthony McGill and the pianist Gabriela Montero.^[2]

Williams also created the theme music for four Olympic Games, NBC Sunday Night Football, the NBC Nightly News, the Statue of Liberty's rededication, the television series Lost in Space and Land of the Giants, and the original, not as well known calypso-based theme song to Gilligan's Island.

Williams did the music for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. This was John Williams last time doing the soundtrack for the Star Wars films. He made a cameo appearance as a bartender in the movie

In 2023, Williams was nominated for another Academy Award, this time for his score in The Fabelmans.

Influences

Williams stated composers like Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Bernard Herrmann, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Sergei Prokofiev, Franz Waxman, Mantovani, Elmer Bernstein, Richard Wagner, Gustav Holst, Igor Stravinsky, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Henry Mancini and Alfred Newman as influences.

Personal life

Williams was married to actress Barbara Ruick from 1956 until her death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1974. They had three children: Jennifer, Joseph and Mark. In 1980, he married Samantha Winslow. They live in Los Angeles, California.

Awards and honors

Williams has received 49 Academy Award nominations throughout his career.^[3] He is the only living person to do so.^[3] He won five of them.^[3] Williams has received the most nominations for Academy Awards of any person except for Walt Disney.^[4]

Williams has also won 4 Golden Globe Awards, 7 British Academy Film Awards and 21 Grammy Awards. Williams was honored with the annual Richard Kirk award at the 1999 BMI Film and TV Awards, recognizing his contribution to movies and television music.^[5]

Williams is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi, the national fraternity for college band members. Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004.