John Williams (composer)

:For other people with the same name, see John Williams.

Film scoring

Williams later returned to Los Angeles, where he started working in the film studios. There he worked with some of the finest film score composers of that time: Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann and Alfred Newman. He began his career composing TV scores for series including Gilligan's Island, Lost in Space and The Time Tunnel.

Related Topics:
Los Angeles - Franz Waxman - Bernard Herrmann - Alfred Newman - Gilligan's Island - Lost in Space - The Time Tunnel

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In the early 1970s, he scored some of the big-budget disaster films that were popular at the time. His scores for The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure, for example, are particularly notable. In 1975, he met Steven Spielberg, who commissioned him to write the music for Jaws, his upcoming film. The music is legendary for its slow, ominous Shark Motif (arguably the single most recognised theme in film music history), and earned Williams his second Academy Award (he had won his first for his 1971 adaptation of the music for the film version of Fiddler on the Roof). Williams' collaborations with Spielberg have been some of the most fruitful of his career, and they have worked on more than twenty films together, including a few in collaboration with George Lucas.

Related Topics:
1970s - The Towering Inferno - The Poseidon Adventure - 1975 - Steven Spielberg - Jaws - Shark Motif - Academy Award - 1971 - Fiddler on the Roof - George Lucas

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He wrote the scores for several TV shows, including Gilligan's Island, Lost in Space and NBC Nightly News. He has been nominated for 43 Academy Awards, of which he has won five (for Fiddler on the Roof, Jaws, Star Wars, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Schindler's List). He currently holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person and has the third most Oscar nominations in history. Furthermore, he holds the record for the most Academy Award losses ever (38).

Related Topics:
TV - Gilligan's Island - Lost in Space - NBC Nightly News - Academy Awards - Fiddler on the Roof - Jaws - Star Wars - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - Schindler's List - Academy Award

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Apart from the five Oscars he has won, Williams has also been the recipient of at least two Emmys, seventeen Grammies, an induction into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame, and a 2004 Kennedy Center Honor. He also won a Classical Brit award in 2005 for his soundtrack work of the previous year.

Related Topics:
Emmys - Grammie - American Classical Music Hall of Fame - Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame - 2004 - Kennedy Center Honor - Classical Brit - 2005

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Notable film scores

• Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
• War of the Worlds (2005)
• ' (2005)
• The Terminal (2004)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
• Minority Report (2002)
• ' (2002)
• Catch Me If You Can (2002)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
• ' (2001)
• The Patriot (2000)
• ' (1999)
• Saving Private Ryan (1998)
• ' (1997)
• Amistad (1997)
• Schindler's List (1993)
• Jurassic Park (1993)
• Far and Away (1992)
• Hook (1991)
• Home Alone (1990)
• The Witches of Eastwick (1989)
• Empire of the Sun (1984)
• ' (1983)
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• ' (1980)
• Dracula (1979)
• ' (1978)
• Jaws 2 (1978)
• ' (1977)
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
• Jaws (1975)
• The Towering Inferno (1974)
• The Paper Chase (1973)
• The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
• Images (1972)
• Jane Eyre (1970)