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John Williams

John Williams

Sound · Acting · Crew

Born February 8, 1932, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

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.

Filmography

Appearances as themselves (75)
  • 2025Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story — Self
  • Disney Legends Award Ceremony — Self - Honoree
  • 2024Henry Mancini: 100 at the Hollywood Bowl — Self
  • 2024John Williams in Tokyo — Self
  • 2024John Williams: A Legacy In Sound — Self
  • 2023Anne-Sophie Mutter - Vivace — Self
  • 2023The Fabelmans: A Family in Film — Self
  • 2023The Making of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — Self
  • 2023Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford — Self
  • 2022Ennio — Self
  • 2022Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen — self
  • 2022If These Walls Could Sing — Self
  • 2022The Stories of West Side Story — Self
  • 2022Williams: Violin Concerto No. 2 & Selected Film Themes — Self - Conductor
  • 2021John Williams: The Berlin Concert — Self
  • 2020A World Without Beethoven? — Self
  • Disney Gallery / Star Wars: The Mandalorian — Self - Composer (archive footage)
  • 2020The Skywalker Legacy — Self
  • 2019Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound — Self (archive footage)
  • 2019Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge - Adventure Awaits — Self
  • 2018Leonard Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood — Self - Conductor
  • 2017Score: A Film Music Documentary — Self
  • 2017Spielberg — Self
  • 2016John Williams at the BBC — self
  • 2016John Williams: The Seventh Symphony — Self (archive footage)
  • 2015A John Williams Celebration — Self
  • 2013Lincoln: An American Journey — Self
  • 2013Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration — Himself
  • 2012The 'E.T.' Journals — Self
  • 2011A Conversation with the Masters: The Empire Strikes Back 30 Years Later — Self
  • 2011AFI's Master Class - The Art of Collaboration: Steven Spielberg and John Williams — Self
  • 2011Return to Jurassic Park — Self
  • 2010Deconstructing Dad: The Music, Machines and Mystery of Raymond Scott — Self
  • 2010Jaws: The Inside Story — Self
  • 2010Music — Self
  • 2009Johnny Mercer: The Dream's on Me — Self - Performer
  • 2009No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos — Self
  • 2009The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story — Self
  • 2009The Shark Is Still Working — Self
  • 2006Frankie Laine: An American Dreamer — Self
  • 2006You Will Believe: The Cinematic Saga of Superman — Self
  • 2005Within a Minute: The Making of Star Wars Episode III — Self
  • 2004Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy — Self
  • Parkinson — Self - Guest
  • 2004Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball? — Self (archive footage)
  • 2004The Revamping of Dracula — Self
  • 2004When Star Wars Ruled the World — Self
  • 2003Catch Me If You Can: Behind the Camera — Self
  • 2003The Music of 'Indiana Jones' — Self
  • 2001Making 'Superman': Filming the Legend — Self
  • 2001Plotting 'Family Plot' — Self
  • 2001Taking Flight: The Development of 'Superman' — Self
  • 2001The Beginning: The Making of Star Wars Episode I — Self
  • 1997In the Teeth of Jaws — Self
  • 1997Star Wars: The Magic & the Mystery — Self
  • 1997The Making of 'The Lost World' — Self
  • E! True Hollywood Story — Self
  • 1996The Making of '1941' — Self
  • 1996The Making of 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' — Self
  • 1995The Hollywood Soundtrack Story — Self
  • 1995The Making of 'Jaws' — Self
  • 1989The Secret Policeman’s Biggest Ball — Self
  • 1983From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga — Self
  • 1980SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back — Self
  • 1980Star Wars: Music by John Williams — Self
  • 1980The Making of The Empire Strikes Back — Self
  • The Kennedy Center Honors — Self
  • Previn and the Pittsburgh — Self
  • The American Film Institute Salute to ... — Self
  • 60 Minutes — Self
  • Playhouse 90 — Self (Pianist)
  • The Oscars — Self
  • All About Alfred — Self
  • Live at the Shrine! John Williams and the World Premiere of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversary — Self
  • Monty and the Movies — Self (archive footage)
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