John Williams

2.1. Birth and Family

John Towner Williams was born on February 8, 1932, in Flushing, Queens, New York City. His parents were Esther (née Towner) and Johnny Williams. His father was a jazz drummer and percussionist who played with the Raymond Scott Quintet. John Williams recalled his father was from Maine and his mother from Boston, with his paternal grandparents running a department store in Bangor, Maine, and his maternal grandfather being a cabinetmaker. Johnny Williams also collaborated with composer Bernard Herrmann, and his son John occasionally joined him in rehearsals, gaining early exposure to the professional music world. John has an older sister named Joan and two younger brothers, Jerry and Don, both of whom became percussionists and have performed on his film scores. In 1948, when John was 16, his family relocated from New York to Los Angeles, California.

2.2. Education and Military Service

After moving to Los Angeles, Williams attended North Hollywood High School, graduating in 1950. He continued his academic pursuits at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and also attended Los Angeles City College for one semester, as the institution offered a Studio Jazz Band. During this period, he studied composition privately with the Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

In 1951, Williams joined the United States Air Force. During his service, he was assigned to the United States Air Force Band, where he primarily served as a pianist and bass player. His duties also included conducting and arranging music for the band. He underwent basic training at Lackland Air Force Base. In March 1952, he was stationed at Pepperrell Air Force Base in St. John's, Newfoundland, as part of the Northeast Air Command 596th Air Force Band. He also took music courses at the University of Arizona as part of his military service.

Upon his discharge from the Air Force in 1955, Williams moved to New York City to further his musical education. He enrolled at Juilliard, where he studied piano under the tutelage of Rosina Lhévinne. Initially, Williams aspired to become a concert pianist. However, after hearing performances by contemporary pianists such as John Browning and Van Cliburn, he decided to shift his focus to composition. He famously remarked, "It became clear that I could write better than I could play."

3.1. Jazz Pianist and Studio Musician

During his studies at Juilliard, and later after moving to Los Angeles, John Williams actively worked as a jazz pianist in numerous clubs across New York City. His talent as a pianist also led him to become a prominent studio musician and session player in Hollywood. In this capacity, he performed on scores for many notable composers, including Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, and Henry Mancini. One of his earliest professional engagements was an uncredited role as an orchestra member for the 1956 film Carousel, which coincidentally featured his future wife, Barbara Ruick.

Williams collaborated extensively with Henry Mancini, playing piano on the scores for films such as Peter Gunn (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), and Charade (1963). He notably performed the piano part of the guitar-piano ostinato in Mancini's iconic Peter Gunn title theme. With Elmer Bernstein, he played on the scores for Alexander Mackendrick's Sweet Smell of Success (1957) and Robert Mulligan's To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Williams also lent his piano skills to the scores of Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960), Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise's West Side Story (1961), and Blake Edwards' The Great Race (1966).

During this period, Williams was often credited as "Johnny Williams." Under this name, he released several jazz albums, including Jazz Beginnings, World on a String, and The John Towner Touch. He also served as a music arranger and bandleader for a series of popular music albums featuring singers Ray Vasquez and Frankie Laine. In 1965, he began a significant collaboration with orchestrator Herbert W. Spencer, a partnership that continued until Spencer's death in 1992. Although Williams had studied orchestration and could complete compositions independently, he adhered to the established practices and union regulations within the Hollywood film industry.

3.2. Early Television and Film Scoring

Williams's earliest known film composition was in 1952, while he was stationed at Pepperrell Air Force Base. He composed music for You Are Welcome, a promotional film created for the Newfoundland tourist information office. His first feature film composition was for Daddy-O (1958), and he received his first screen credit two years later for Because They're Young (1960).

He quickly became a prolific composer for television, contributing music to series such as Bachelor Father (1957-59), Kraft Suspense Theatre (1963-65), Lost in Space (1965-68), The Time Tunnel (1966-67), and Land of the Giants (1968-70). The latter three were created by the renowned producer Irwin Allen. Williams also worked on several episodes of M Squad (1957-1960) and Checkmate (1960-1962), and notably composed the music for the pilot episode of Gilligan's Island (1964-67).

Williams considered William Wyler's How to Steal a Million (1966) his first film for a "major, super-talent director." He received his first Oscar nomination for his score for Valley of the Dolls (1967). Subsequent nominations followed for Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) and The Reivers (1969). His first Academy Award win came in 1971 for Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score, for Fiddler on the Roof.

In the early 1970s, Williams showcased his versatility by scoring diverse films. He composed for Robert Altman's psychological thriller Images (1972) and the neo-noir The Long Goodbye (1973), based on the novel by Raymond Chandler. Critic Pauline Kael praised Williams's score for The Long Goodbye as a "parody of the movies' frequent overuse of a theme, and a demonstration of how adaptable a theme can be." Altman, known for giving creative freedom, told Williams, "Do whatever you want. Do something you haven you haven't done before." Williams himself cited his Images score as a personal favorite, noting its experimental use of piano, percussion, and strings, influenced by Edgard Varèse.

His prominence further grew with his work on Irwin Allen's disaster films, including The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Towering Inferno (1974), and Earthquake (1974). Despite his inclination towards more experimental concert music, Williams acknowledged that his scores for The Reivers and The Cowboys (1972) ultimately set the trajectory for his illustrious career in film scoring.

4.1. Collaboration with Steven Spielberg

The partnership between John Williams and director Steven Spielberg is one of the most celebrated and enduring in film history, spanning nearly five decades and encompassing scores for all but five of Spielberg's feature films.

4.1.2. Major Spielberg Collaborations

Following Jaws, Spielberg and Williams embarked on a two-year collaboration for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). They crafted the film's distinctive five-note motif, which functions both as a musical theme and as the communication signal used by the film's extraterrestrials. Critic Darryn King highlighted this musical dialogue as a key example of their creative synergy, with Pauline Kael describing it as a "conversational duet: the music of the spheres." Williams later reflected that the first three notes of the theme are resolved, making the subsequent two notes surprising.

Spielberg continued to choose Williams for his projects, including 1941 (1979) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). For the latter, Williams composed the rousing "The Raiders March" for the hero, Indiana Jones, alongside distinct themes for the Ark of the Covenant, Jones's love interest Marion Ravenwood, and the Nazi villains. Spielberg underscored the score's vital importance to the Indiana Jones films, stating that "Jones did not perish, but listened carefully to the Raiders score. Its sharp rhythms told him when to run. Its slicing strings told him when to duck. Its several integrated themes told adventurer Jones when to kiss the heroine or smash the enemy. All things considered, Jones listened... and lived."

Williams's soaring score for Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) earned him his fourth Academy Award. Spielberg was so impressed with the music for the film's climactic chase sequence that he famously re-edited the visuals to perfectly synchronize with Williams's score, a testament to the music's power and Williams's influence.

The prolific collaboration resumed in 1987 with Empire of the Sun and continued with Always (1989), Hook (1991), Jurassic Park (1993) and its sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Amistad (1997), and Saving Private Ryan (1998). Williams also contributed theme music and scored several episodes for Spielberg's anthology television series Amazing Stories (1985).

Scoring Schindler's List (1993) presented a unique emotional challenge for Williams. After viewing the rough cut with Spielberg, he was so overwhelmed that he felt inadequate for the task, telling the director, "I really think you need a better composer than I am for this film." Spielberg's iconic reply was, "I know, but they're all dead." Williams ultimately accepted, and the score, featuring classical violinist Itzhak Perlman on the main theme, earned Williams his fifth Oscar, his fourth for Best Original Score.

Their partnership continued into the 21st century with films such as A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), based on an unfinished project by Stanley Kubrick. Critic A. O. Scott observed that the film marked new directions for both director and composer, noting Williams's "unusually restrained, modernist score." Williams composed jazz-inspired scores for Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002), which allowed him to pay homage to Henry Mancini, and The Terminal (2004). His 2005 score for War of the Worlds referenced classic monster movie scores, and he also scored the epic historical drama Munich (2005).

In 2011, after a three-year hiatus from film scoring, Williams composed for two more Spielberg films: The Adventures of Tintin, his first score for an animated film, for which he employed diverse styles including 1920s/1930s European jazz and pirate music; and War Horse. Both scores received widespread acclaim and earned Academy Award nominations. These nominations, his 46th and 47th, made him the most nominated musician in Academy Award history, surpassing Alfred Newman. Tintin also earned him an Annie Award.

In 2012, Williams scored Spielberg's historical drama Lincoln, which brought him his 48th Academy Award nomination. He was initially slated to score Bridge of Spies (2015), which would have been his 27th collaboration with Spielberg. However, a minor health issue led to Thomas Newman scoring the film instead, marking the first Spielberg film since The Color Purple (1985) not scored by Williams. He later composed for Spielberg's fantasy The BFG (2016) and his drama The Post (2017).

In 2019, Williams served as a music consultant for Spielberg's West Side Story (2021) and scored his semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans (2022). In June 2022, Williams announced his intention to retire from film scoring after Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) to focus solely on concert music. However, he reversed this decision in January 2023, humorously stating he had "10 more years to go," drawing a parallel to Spielberg's father, Arnold, who worked until age 100.

4.2. Star Wars and Other Major Franchises

John Williams's work on major film franchises, particularly the Star Wars saga, has profoundly shaped cinematic music and popular culture, establishing iconic themes and leitmotifs that are instantly recognizable worldwide.

4.3. Other Notable Film and Television Works

Beyond his celebrated collaborations with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, John Williams has composed significant scores for a wide range of films and television productions, showcasing the breadth of his versatility and influence.

Williams scored Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot (1976). Hitchcock famously instructed Williams to remember one thing: "Murder can be fun." Williams acknowledged the influence of Hitchcock's frequent composer, Bernard Herrmann, in his score, which pleased the director. Williams adopted a similar approach when scoring Brian De Palma's psychological thriller The Fury (1978). Critic Pauline Kael lauded Williams as a "major collaborator" on the film, praising his "apt and delicately varied a score as any horror movie has ever had," which effectively "scares us without banshee melodramatics" and sets an "otherworldly, seductively frightening" mood.

In 1985, NBC commissioned Williams to compose a television news music package, which he titled "The Mission". This package consists of four movements, two of which are still heavily used by NBC today for programs such as Today, NBC Nightly News, and Meet the Press. He also composed the theme music for NBC Sunday Night Football.

Other notable film scores from this period include George Miller's fantasy comedy The Witches of Eastwick (1987). For Lawrence Kasdan's drama The Accidental Tourist (1988), which earned him an Oscar nomination, Williams developed the two main theme sections with varied orchestration and an unexpected use of synthesizers, shifting the mood between lighter and darker tones.

Williams also established frequent collaborations with other prominent directors. These include Martin Ritt (Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), Conrack (1974), and Stanley & Iris (1990)), Mark Rydell (The Reivers (1969), The Cowboys (1972), Cinderella Liberty (1973), and The River (1984)), Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July (1989), JFK (1991), and Nixon (1995)), and Chris Columbus (the first two Home Alone films (1990-1992), Stepmom (1998), and the first two Harry Potter films (2001-2002)).

Additional significant films scored by Williams during this period include SpaceCamp (1986), Presumed Innocent (1990), Far and Away (1992), Sabrina (1995), Sleepers (1996), Rosewood (1997), Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Angela's Ashes (1999), The Patriot (2000), and Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), for which he received a Golden Globe Award.

In 2013, Williams scored The Book Thief, marking his first collaboration with a director other than Spielberg since 2005. The score earned him Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations, and a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition. This particular nomination for Best Original Score was his 44th, setting a new record in that category. He also scored the 2017 animated short film Dear Basketball, directed by Glen Keane and based on a poem by Kobe Bryant. In 2023, Williams was commissioned by ESPN to compose an original piece titled "Of Grit and Glory" for the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship.

5.1. Boston Pops Orchestra

From 1980 to 1993, John Williams served as the principal conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, succeeding the legendary Arthur Fiedler. Although Williams never met Fiedler in person, they did speak by telephone. Williams's arrival as the Pops' new leader in the spring of 1980 was marked by his decision to dedicate part of the orchestra's first PBS broadcast of the season to presenting his new compositions for The Empire Strikes Back.

In 1984, Williams nearly ended his tenure with the Pops after an incident where some players audibly hissed while sight-reading a new composition during a rehearsal. Williams abruptly left the session and submitted his resignation, citing mounting conflicts with his demanding film composing schedule and a perceived lack of discipline and respect from the orchestra members. However, after entreaties from the management and personal apologies from the musicians, Williams withdrew his resignation and continued as principal conductor for an additional nine years.

In 1995, Williams was succeeded by Keith Lockhart. Williams now holds the esteemed title of the Pops' laureate conductor, thereby maintaining his close affiliation with its parent organization, the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He continues to lead the Pops on several occasions each year, most notably during their popular Holiday Pops season and typically for a week of concerts in May. He also conducts an annual Film Night at both Boston Symphony Hall and Tanglewood, where he frequently collaborates with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Under Williams's leadership, the Boston Pops significantly expanded its repertoire to include more film music, including his own compositions, in response to audience demand, while still preserving its traditional American classical and timeless classical music offerings.

5.2. Compositions

John Williams has composed a substantial number of concert pieces, demonstrating his versatility beyond the realm of film scoring. His classical output includes a symphony and a sinfonietta for wind ensemble.

5.3. Conducting Career

Beyond his long tenure with the Boston Pops, John Williams has maintained an active and distinguished career as a guest conductor with many of the world's leading orchestras.

He makes annual appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. In 2003, he participated as both conductor and composer in the orchestra's opening gala concerts for the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which included the premiere of his piece Soundings. In 2004, he served as the Grand Marshal for the Rose Parade and conducted "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Rose Bowl Game. In April 2005, Williams and the Boston Pops performed the "Throne Room Finale" from Star Wars at Fenway Park as the Boston Red Sox, having won their first World Series championship since 1918, received their championship rings. For Game 1 of the 2007 World Series, Williams conducted a brass-and-drum ensemble in a new, dissonant arrangement of "The Star Spangled Banner."

Williams has guest conducted "The President's Own" United States Marine Band on several occasions. In 2013, they commissioned him to write "Fanfare for The President's Own" in honor of their 215th anniversary. In 2023, Williams was made an honorary U.S. Marine at the conclusion of his fifth concert with the Marine Band at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

He has frequently conducted the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, with sold-out performances in February 2004, April 2006, and September 2007. The initial program in 2004, featuring a medley of his Oscar-winning film scores, was so popular that it led to repeated engagements, including fundraising galas with personal recollections by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. He returned to conduct the Philharmonic once again in October 2011.

After a break of over ten years from conducting in New York, Williams returned in 2022 to lead the Philadelphia Orchestra for a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall, featuring special guest violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. The following year, he was feted at a gala at David Geffen Hall by Steven Spielberg, celebrating their nearly fifty-year collaboration. In 2024, he returned to headline another gala at Carnegie Hall with the Philadelphia Orchestra, this time with Yo-Yo Ma as his special guest.

On July 4, 2014, Williams conducted the National Symphony Orchestra, the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets, the Joint Armed Forces Chorus, and the Choral Arts Society of Washington in his new arrangement of "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the anthem's 200th anniversary. The performance was held at A Capitol Fourth, an Independence Day celebration concert in Washington, D.C. On April 13, 2017, at Star Wars Celebration Orlando, Williams performed a surprise concert with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring "Princess Leia's Theme" (a tribute to the recently deceased Carrie Fisher), "The Imperial March," and "Main Title." George Lucas introduced him, proclaiming him "The secret sauce of Star Wars, the greatest composer-conductor in the universe."

Anne-Sophie Mutter, introduced to Williams by their mutual friend André Previn, collaborated with Williams on an album, Across the Stars, released in August 2019, on which Mutter played themes and pieces from Williams's film scores in his new arrangements for violin. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra invited Williams to lead concerts in January 2020, marking his first engagement with a European orchestra. The concert featured Mutter as soloist and included many pieces from Across the Stars. The resulting concert album, John Williams in Vienna, became the best-selling orchestral album of 2020, reaching the top 10 in many countries and topping the U.S. and UK classical charts. The orchestra also commissioned a new fanfare from Williams for their annual Philharmonikerball^German, replacing the 1924 fanfare by Richard Strauss.

Williams conducted the Berlin Philharmonic from October 14-16, 2021, his second engagement with a European orchestra and his first with the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2022, in celebration of his 90th birthday, Williams conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in March and was honored on August 20 with a tribute at Tanglewood. This tribute featured renowned artists such as James Taylor, Yo-Yo Ma, and Branford Marsalis. The Boston Symphony Orchestra performed some of Williams's best-known music, with Williams himself conducting the "Raiders March" from the Indiana Jones movies at the show's conclusion.

Williams made a surprise appearance at the U.S. premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) on June 15, where he conducted themes with a live symphony orchestra. Later that year, he conducted the Saito Kinen Orchestra in Matsumoto and Tokyo, Japan, marking his return to the country for the first time in over thirty years.

7.1. Major Awards and Nominations

John Williams is widely regarded as one of the most influential and successful film composers in history. He holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person, with 54 nominations, and is the second most nominated individual in Academy Awards history, trailing only Walt Disney (who received 59 nominations). Williams is also unique in being the only person to be nominated for an Academy Award in seven different decades, spanning the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s. At 91 years old, he is the oldest person ever to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Of his 54 Oscar nominations, 48 are for Best Original Score and five are for Best Original Song. He has won five Academy Awards: one for Best Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score for Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and four for Best Original Score for Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Schindler's List (1993). His 44th nomination for Best Original Score (and 49th overall) for The Book Thief (2013) set a new record for the most nominations in that category.

In addition to his Oscar achievements, Williams has received numerous other prestigious awards:

• 26 Grammy Awards from 71 nominations. He has won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for scores including Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, The Empire Strikes Back, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Angela's Ashes, Munich, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and The Book Thief. This category includes composers of instrumental music across all genres.
• 7 BAFTA Awards from 16 nominations.
• 3 Emmy Awards from 6 nominations.
• 4 Golden Globe Awards from 25 nominations.

7.2. Musical Influence and Legacy

John Williams's profound impact extends across film scoring, classical music, and popular culture, influencing generations of composers and musicians. Norwegian composer Marcus Paus has lauded Williams, stating that his "satisfying way of embodying dissonance and avant-garde techniques within a larger tonal framework" makes him "one of the great composers of any century." While Williams's film music clearly draws inspiration from classical and film composers like Gustav Holst, Stravinsky, and Korngold, these influences are generally viewed as a natural part of artistic development rather than mere imitation.

The Boston Globe has hailed Williams as "the most successful composer of film music in the history of the medium." His enduring legacy is underscored by significant recognitions:

• In 2005, the American Film Institute placed Williams's score for Star Wars first on its list of AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores. His scores for Jaws and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial also made this prestigious list.
• The Library of Congress inducted the Star Wars soundtrack into the National Recording Registry, recognizing it as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
• Williams has composed the score for nine of the top 25 highest-grossing films at the U.S. box office, adjusted for inflation, further cementing his unparalleled commercial and cultural impact.

7.3. Honors and Inductions

John Williams has received a multitude of honors and inductions recognizing his extraordinary contributions to music and the arts:

• He was the subject of an hour-long documentary by the BBC in 1980 and featured in a report on 20/20 in 1983.
• He has been awarded numerous honorary doctorates of music, including from Berklee College of Music (1980), Boston College (1993), Harvard University (2017), and the University of Pennsylvania (2021).
• In 1993, he was made an honorary brother of Kappa Kappa Psi at Boston University.
• Williams has been honored with 15 Sammy Film Music Awards since 1988, which are the longest-running awards for film music recordings.
• In 2000, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
• He has been inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Bowl's Hall of Fame.
• In 1999, Williams received the annual Richard Kirk award at the BMI Film and TV Awards, acknowledging his significant contributions to film and television music.
• He was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004.
• In 2005, he won a Classic Brit Award for his soundtrack work from the previous year.
• The International Olympic Committee accorded Williams its highest individual honor, the Olympic Order, in 2003, recognizing his four Olympic themes and overall contributions.
• In 2009, Williams received the National Medal of Arts at the White House in Washington, D.C., for his achievements in symphonic music for films, and "as a pre-eminent composer and conductor [whose] scores have defined and inspired modern movie-going for decades."
• He was honored with the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2012.
• In 2013, Williams was presented with the Ken Burns Lifetime Achievement Award.
• In 2016, the Government of France made him a Chevalier De L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
• In 2018, the performing rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc. established The John Williams Award, with Williams becoming its inaugural recipient. That same year, he received the Grammy Trustees Award, a Special Merit Award recognizing significant non-performance contributions to the field of recording. He also received a President's Medal award from The Juilliard School, where he announced his intention to bequeath his entire library of concert and film music scores, as well as his sketchbooks, to the college.
• In 2020, he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society and the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts (jointly with Ennio Morricone).
• 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." This was one of the final two honorary knighthoods awarded during the Queen's seventy-year reign.
• In 2024, Williams was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters (jointly with Terence Blanchard) and received the Disney Legends award at the Honda Center in August.