Happy 78th Birthday to film composer icon John Williams!

We would like to take a moment to congratulate Mr. John Williams on his 78th birthday today (February 8) and commemorate his unbelievably dense catalogue of film music compositions.

Known as the man behind the music of many Hollywood blockbusters, New York-born composer John Williams is among the few artists worthy of the titles “icon” and “legend.” He studied at both University of California (Los Angeles) and Julliard, and his first scoring composition was for the 1958 film Daddy-O.

Before blasting full-bore into film music, Williams cut his teeth throughout much of the 1960s on television series’ including Land of the Giants, The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, Gilligan's Island, Kraft Suspense Theatre, Wagon Train, The Wide Country, Checkmate, and Bachelor Father.

Since then, he has gone on to score 11 of the Top 50 highest grossing films of all time, and his music permeates pop culture on a daily basis.

Williams has supplied the music to all six Star Wars films, all four Indiana Jones films, three of the Harry Potter films, the first two Jaws, Home Alone, and Jurassic Park films, not to mention other incredible notables like Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Born on the Fourth of July, Schindler’s List, The Terminal, Saving Private Ryan, and Munich.

He has won five Academy Awards (with 45 total nominations – tying – with composer Alfred Newman - the second most nominated person in Academy history behind Walt Disney), three Emmys (most recently in 2009 for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music for the series Great Performances), four Golden Globes, 21 Grammys and literally tons of additional accolades for his extensive body of work.

Film Score Monthly recently released Williams’ previously-unavailable score to the 1977 film Black Sunday, which has been limited to a 10,000-unit pressing. It is definitely worth a listen!

According to IMDB, his upcoming works include the 2011 Steven Spielberg film, The Adventures of Tin-Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn, as well as Spielberg’s 2013 film Interstellar. His involvement with the Abraham Lincoln biopic Lincoln and the fifth installment in the Indiana Jones saga are still in development. It is also rumored that he will be participating in the scoring of one of the final two Harry Potter films, though Alexandre Desplat has already signed on for one of them.

Like many film music fans, Williams was largely responsible for my introduction and immediate adoration for movie scores. I still remember repeatedly listening to the double-vinyl Empire Strikes Back soundtrack on my “portable” record player, lying on the floor and intensely admiring the artwork on the gatefold album sleeve. From there it was on to Superman, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and before I knew it, I was collecting movie soundtracks the same way people collect baseball cards.

Williams is one of those elite composers who has the magical ability to grip a child’s imagination and hold onto it through adolescence. It is one of the many reasons that it is difficult to fling a negative comment in his direction.

I would like to close this piece with a list of my Top Ten Favorite John Williams soundtracks. Oddly, many of them are sequels to his own scores. This also stands as a testimony to his ability to actively better himself throughout his career.

1. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
2. Jaws 2 (1978)
3. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
4. Hook (1991)
5. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
6. The Patriot (2000)
7. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
8. Dracula (1979)
9. Empire of the Sun (1987)
10. Seven Years in Tibet (1997)

Happy Birthday, John Williams!

 

 

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