John Williams has created soundtracks to some of the top-grossing films of all time. His music has etched itself into our memory, from "Jaws" don't-get-in-the-water warnings to "Star Wars" inter-galactic battle tunes.
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Film composer John Williams' iconic soundtracks
John Williams has created soundtracks to some of the top-grossing films of all time. His music has etched itself into our memory, from "Jaws" to "Star Wars."
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John Williams on the red carpet
Born in New England, John Williams (left, with Steven Spielberg) left for Los Angeles in the 1950s. The composer and conductor has written the soundtracks to some of the highest-grossing films of all times, from "Star Wars" and "Jaws" to "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Book Thief." Not only an award-winning composer, Williams served for several years as the conductor of the Boston Pops orchestra.
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Jaws
Don't go in the water! The two-note ostinato that crescendoes as the killer shark comes in for the attack in the 1975 hit "Jaws" has become an earworm for many. The suspenseful soundtrack still conjures up fear even now, decades after the release of the film.
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Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Williams has collaborated with Steven Spielberg repeatedly, winning multiple awards for his work on the original "Star Wars" blockbuster and carrying the melodies into the series of feature films created over a more than 30-year span. William's compositions have heightened the drama on the science-fiction series and the soundtrack itself has been a bestseller since the 1970s.
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Return of the Jedi
The soundtrack for the initial Star Wars trilogy, including "The Return of the Jedi" in 1983 (pictured), won Williams several awards and brought his cinematic productions to the sound systems of households around the world. He is said to have been inspired by the operatic works of Richard Wagner and his use of leitmotif, as one can hear in pieces like "Luke's Theme" and "Princess Leia's Theme."
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E.T.: Extra Terrestrial
Many of the sounds we affiliate today with outer space stem from the soundtracks Williams created for television series like "Lost in Space" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." He took using a five-note figure for extra-terrestrial communication even further when collaborating with Steven Spielberg on "E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial."
Killer dinosaurs and classical music wouldn't appear to have much in common. John Williams, however, employed operatic structures as he composed music for thrillers, heightening suspense in even the most absurd scenarios.
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Schindler's List
The heartbreaking true story set during during the Holocaust was given added weight by the score Williams created for "Schindler's List." It was directed by Steven Spielberg, who has worked with Williams on many of his movies and considers him a friend.
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Williams was given the difficult task of setting magic to music when he was brought on for the first three installments of the Harry Potter film adaptations, which were released from 2001-2004 and starred Daniel Radcliffe (pictured), Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson.
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The name John Towner Williams may not ring any bells initially, but there's a good chance you've heard him before. Williams, who celebrates his 85th birthday on February 8, 2017, is one of the most heard composers of our time, having written the soundtracks to the of the biggest blockbusters of the past half-decade.
The New England-born composer and pianist got his start in 1955 as a student at the Juilliard School of Music after serving in the Air Force. After his studies, he moved on to Los Angeles, where he recorded with Henry Mancini throughout the 1960s while composing for some of the most popular television series of the time.
His music set the backdrop for paradise-gone-wrong on the series "Gilligan's Island," created the mood in "Lost in Space," and later provided the theme music for the drug-addled antics in 1967's "Valley of the Dolls," for which he received his first Oscar nomination.
Inspired by Richard Wagner and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Williams has won numerous awards throughout his career, becoming the second-most-nominated person in Academy Award history with 50 Oscar nods. Among his Oscar-award-winning compositions are the scores for the cinematic successes "Schindler's List," "E.T.," "Star Wars," "Jaws" and "Fiddler on the Roof." He likewise holds 22 Grammys, four Golden Globes and seven British Academy Film Awards to his name.
Setting movies to music
As the theme music to many of the highest-grossing films of all time, Williams' scores have helped instill many film-goers with unforgettable emotions: The ominous two-note ostinato from "Jaws" still rings in many of our ears when we step into an ocean and a pit of dread forms in our stomachs.
The leitmotifs that run through the "Star Wars"' space epics made the soundtrack one of the highest grossing non-popular music recordings of all time. It's hard to imagine Superman taking flight or Indiana Jones running from a giant boulder without the blast of trumpets. Even Harry Potter's magic wand gains new life when waved to the sounds of Williams' compositions.
Despite all the successes Williams has achieved thus far in his career, he shows no signs of slowing down at 85, continuing to lend his talents to numerous films. A good friend of Stephen Spielberg's, he has written the soundtracks for "Munich," "The Adventures of Tintin" and, more recently, "The Book Thief" and "Lincoln." Next up: the music for the latest in the Star Wars series.
