John Williams' Life in Movies

CLASSIC M presents John Williams A Life In Movies John Williams was born on February 8, 1932 on Long Island, New York, the son of Esther and Johnny Williams. 1958 Whilst working at Universal Studios, Williams's created his first major film composition for the B movie Daddy-0. ! 1971 Williams broke through to win his first Academy Award for his adapted score for the film Fiddler on the Roof. 1975 I JAWS Williams teamed up with Spielberg again for his second film, Jaws. Widely considered to be a classic suspense film, its film score's ominous two-note motif has become synonymous with sharks and approaching danger. The score for Jaws earned Williams his second Academy Award, his first one for an original composition. It was later ranked the sixth greatest score by the American Film Institute. 1977 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND In an unusual step for a Hollywood film, Spielberg and Williams developed their script and musical concepts simultaneously, as in the film these entwine very closely together. During their two-year-long collaboration, they crafted its distinctive five-note figure that functions both in the background music and as the communications signal of the film's extraterrestrials. 1977 STAR WARS Perhaps Williams' most successful film soundtrack, it remains the highest grossing non-popular music recording of all-time. Williams also won another Academy Award for Best Original Score. 1978 Williams worked with director Richard Donner to score this adaptation of one of the most famous comic books. The main theme remains one of the most iconic them tunes of all time. Williams conducted the London Symphony Orchestra to record the soundtrack. 1981 Created and directed by Lucas and Spielberg, Williams wrote a rousing main theme known as "The Raiders March" to accompany the film's hero, Indiana Jones. Additional themes were featured in his scores to the sequel films Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). 1982 i ET. Williams composed an emotional and sensitive score to Spielberg's fantasy film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The film's final chase and farewell sequence marks a rare instance in film history in which the on-screen action was re-edited to conform to the composer's musical interpretation. Williams was awarded a fourth Academy Award for this score. 1985 John Wiliams has composed music for every one of Steven Spielberg's theatrical film releases apart from 1985's The Colour Purple 1993 SCHINDLERS IST TURASK PARK Williams worked on the scores for both Schilnder's List and Jurassic Park simultaneously. He received an Oscar for Best Original Score for his work on Schindler's List. During the composition of Schindler's List, Williams said to Spielberg, "You need a better composer than I am for this film." Spielberg replied, "I know. But they're all dead!" John Williams' Awards Five Oscars İ111 STAR WAR. 1999 EPISODE I THE PHANTOM MENACE In 1999 George Lucas launched the first of a series of prequels to the original Star Wars trilogy. Williams was asked to score all three films, starting with The Phantom Menace. Along with themes from the previous movies, Williams created new themes to be used as leitmotifs in Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005). Forty Two Oscar Nominations 2001 Harty Potter 11111111111 Williams was asked to score the film adaptations of the widely successful book series, Harry Potter. He went on to score the first three installments of the film franchise. The most important theme from Williams's scores for the adaptations of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, dubbed Hedwig's Theme, has been used in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth films. Seven BAFTAS 2005 AFI Williams's richly thematic and highly popular 1977 score to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was selected in 2005 by the American Film Institute as the greatest American movie score of all time. His scores for Jaws and E.T. also appeared on the list, at No. 6 and No. 14, respectively. He is the only composer to have three scores on the list. Twenty One Grammys 2009 In 2009, Williams received the National Medal of Arts in the White House in Washington for his achievements in symphonic music for motion pictures, and "as a pre-eminent composer and conductor [whose] scores have defined and inspired modern movie-going for decades." Five Golden Globes Three Emmys 2011 TINTIN After a three year absence from film scoring, Williams composed the scores for Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn and War Horse in 2011. Both scores earned Oscar nominations. The Oscar nominations are Williams' 46th and 47th, making him the most nominated musician in Academy Awards history, and the second most nominated overall, following Walt Disney. John Williams' Charting U.S. Billboard Hits • 1975 - "Theme From Jaws" #32 • 1977 - "Star Wars Theme - Main Title" #10 • 1978 - "Theme From Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" #13 • 1979 - “Theme From Superman" #81 2012 John Williams is to be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's Classic BRIT Awards. The ceremony takes place at London's Royal Albert Hall on October 2nd. CLASSIC