John Williams
Sign in to saveAmerican composer and conductor (born 1932)
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John Williams is an American composer and conductor born in 1932 who has created music for some of the most famous films and orchestral works of the past several decades. He is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential composers in contemporary music, known for his memorable movie scores and symphonic compositions.
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Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1636?
- Died
- 1709
- Works
- 92
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Sound · 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…
Known for
- Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story — Self2025
- Music by John Williams — Self - Composer2024
- John Williams in Tokyo — Self2024
- Disney Legends Awards Ceremony — Self2024
- John Williams: A Legacy In Sound — Self2024
- Henry Mancini: 100 at the Hollywood Bowl — Self2024
- Anne-Sophie Mutter - Vivace — Self2023
- The Making of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — Self
Article
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer and conductor. Over his seven-decade career, he has composed many of the best known scores in film history. His compositional style blends romanticism, impressionism, and atonal music with complex orchestration. Best known for his collaborations with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, he has received numerous accolades, including 27 Grammy Awards, five Academy Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. With a total of 54 Academy Award nominations, he is the second-most nominated person in the award's history, after Walt Disney. He is also the oldest Academy Award nominee in any category, receiving a nomination at 91 years old.
Williams's early work as a film composer includes None but the Brave (1965), Valley of the Dolls (1967), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), Images, 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/Best Score Adaptation for Fiddler on the Roof (1971; score adaptation of the original music by Jerry Bock), 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) and its sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), 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).
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1932 births20th-century American classical composers20th-century American classical pianists20th-century American composers20th-century American conductors (music)20th-century American jazz composers20th-century American male composers21st-century American classical composers21st-century American classical pianists21st-century American conductors (music)21st-century American jazz composers