John Williams Born: Cinema's Greatest Composer Arrives

John Williams was hired to score Jaws in 1975. Steven Spielberg heard the two-note theme and laughed. He thought Williams was joking. Williams played it again. Spielberg stopped laughing. That theme, simple enough to hum in a bathtub, made the shark scarier than any visual effect the studio could have produced. Born on February 8, 1932, in Floral Park, New York, Williams studied at UCLA and the Juilliard School, served in the Air Force, and spent years as a jazz pianist and studio session musician in Los Angeles before transitioning to film composition. His early scoring work was competent but unremarkable. The partnership with Spielberg changed everything. After Jaws, Williams scored Star Wars in 1977, producing a symphonic score that drew from Holst, Wagner, and Korngold and became one of the best-selling orchestral recordings ever made. The Imperial March, Princess Leia's theme, and the main title fanfare entered the cultural vocabulary permanently. He went on to score E.T., the Indiana Jones trilogy, Schindler's List, the first three Harry Potter films, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, and dozens of other major films. His collaboration with Spielberg lasted over five decades. He also composed extensively for concert performance, including concertos for violin, cello, flute, and horn performed by major orchestras worldwide. His total output includes scores for over 100 films. He has won five Academy Awards, more than any other living person, and has received 54 nominations, the second-most in Oscar history behind Walt Disney. He has also won 25 Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, and seven British Academy Film Awards.