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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/williams_john_300x233.jpg]]
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3->''"A lifetime is just simply not long enough for the study of music."''
4
5John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932, in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity) is an American film music composer and one of the world's most famous and prolific at it.
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7Professionally active for six decades, he has been nominated for a whopping 52 MediaNotes/{{Academy Award}}s (winning five), six Primetime MediaNotes/{{Emmy|Award}}s (winning three, including one for a 1968 MadeForTVMovie version of ''Literature/{{Heidi}}'', of "Heidi Game" infamy), 22 MediaNotes/{{Golden Globe|Award}}s (winning four) and 59 Grammys (winning twenty). Only Creator/WaltDisney has been nominated for more Oscars, and Williams currently holds the record for most nominated living individual. In 2022, he became the last person to be placed on the Honours List for an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II, though due to her death not long after, the actual knighting ceremony was performed by her successor, King Charles III.
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9Born in New York City to a musical family (his father was a {{jazz}} drummer), Williams got his start as a session pianist in Los Angeles, performing on film scores by composers such as Music/JerryGoldsmith (''Studs Lonigan''; ''City of Fear''), Music/ElmerBernstein (''Film/SweetSmellOfSuccess''; ''God's Little Acre''; ''Staccato''; ''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]''; ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird''), Music/HenryMancini (he actually played the well-recognized opening riff to the ''Series/PeterGunn'' theme; ''Series/MrLucky''; ''Film/DaysOfWineAndRoses''; ''Film/{{Charade}}''), Music/AlfredNewman (''Theatre/SouthPacific''), and Jerome Moross (''Film/TheBigCountry'').
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11Williams' scores are known for their liberal use of {{Leitmotif}} -- practically every major character and concept has its own musical motif woven into the score. Williams is also fond of the {{Fanfare}}. Despite these stylistic preferences, he seems to be willing to experiment with every movie, adding different instruments and techniques with each new film. (For example, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDdFM6U9-eQ one piece]] of the ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' score uses an electric guitar.) When a Williams composition is playing, you will generally be in for a good movie. If the movie's not good, well, [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic the music]] [[SugarWiki/RuleOfSeanConnery certainly]] [[AwesomeMusic/JohnWilliams will be]].
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13Unless you're hearing impaired or haven't seen a movie in the last 30 years (or maybe not even then), you'll have certainly heard one of Williams' tunes. Most of his themes have become iconic in their own right, such as the opening {{fanfare}} of ''Franchise/StarWars'', the famous string sting from ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' or the theme for ''Franchise/IndianaJones''. Williams has long been the go-to composer for Creator/StevenSpielberg's films (he even wrote the music for the Amblin and Creator/DreamWorksSKG logos). Likewise, his music for ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' gave the {{Superhero}} film genre a rarely equaled feel of heroic majesty.
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15Interestingly, many connoisseurs of ClassicalMusic actually hold Williams in rather low regard, as '''many''' elements of his compositions (including some of his most well-known themes and motifs) are borrowed from older pieces of music. Though even they admit he's less guilty of this [[Music/JamesHorner than others]]. For most listeners this is one of his strengths; in the words of the founding editor of ''Film Score Monthly'' Lukas Kendall (whose all-time favorite score is ''The Empire Strikes Back''): "His themes sound inevitable. They sound like they fell out of his sleeves; they sound like they've always existed. And it's extraordinary how you get just two notes for ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' or five notes for ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' and have them feel like they've always existed."
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17In addition to his film scores, Williams has composed music for four UsefulNotes/OlympicGames, ''The Mission'' suite for the ''NBC Nightly News'' (Also used by Seven News in Australia) and the inauguration of President UsefulNotes/BarackObama, among many others. He also conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980–93 and remains Director Laureate to this day.
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19Early in his career, Williams worked for producer Creator/IrwinAllen (under the name "''Johnny'' Williams"), providing the themes (and pilot scores) for the television series ''Series/LostInSpace'', ''Series/TheTimeTunnel'' and ''Series/LandOfTheGiants'' and scoring such disaster films as ''Film/ThePoseidonAdventure'' and ''Film/TheToweringInferno''. Williams himself credits much of his success to the collegial relationships he developed with his fellow musicians during his own stint in a studio orchestra. He also scored the pilot for ''Series/GilligansIsland'' (but he didn't write the theme song).
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21Not to be confused with John William'''''son''''', who is a very [[AwesomeAussie Australian]] singer-songwriter. Nor with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williams_(guitarist) John Williams]] the Australian classical guitarist, or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williams_(actor) John Williams]] the British character actor, or any of the dozens of other [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williams_(disambiguation) eminent historical John Williamses]]. He is, however, related to Joseph Williams, the singer from Music/{{Toto}} and Simba's singing voice in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994''-- that would be his son.
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23He is also [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk5_OSsawz4 the man]]. The podcast ''The Baton: A John Williams Journey'' is thoroughly recommended.
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25----
26!! John Williams-scored films with TV Tropes pages:
27* ''Film/DaddyO'' (1958)
28* ''Film/{{The Killers|1964}}'' (1964)
29* ''Film/{{Penelope|1966}}'' (1966)
30* ''Film/HowToStealAMillion'' (1966)
31* ''Film/ValleyOfTheDolls'' (1967): His first Academy Award nominated work.
32* ''Film/{{Fitzwilly}}'' (1967)
33* ''Film/GoodbyeMrChips'' (1969)
34* ''Literature/TheReivers'' (1969)
35* ''Film/{{Jane Eyre|1970}}'' (1970): Emmy Award win.
36* ''Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof'' (1971): His first Academy Award win.
37* ''Film/TheCowboys'' (1972)
38* ''Film/ThePoseidonAdventure'' (1972)
39* ''Film/{{Images}}'' (1972)
40* ''Film/TheLongGoodbye'' (1973): His most unusual score, since it's just the melody of the film's theme song, repeated in a myriad of different arrangements.
41* ''Film/ThePaperChase'' (1973)
42* ''Film/TheSugarlandExpress'' (1974): Creator/StevenSpielberg's first feature film and Williams' first collaboration with Spielberg. See AssociatedComposer below. His other Spielberg scores include:
43** ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' (duh-''dum'', duh-''dum''...) (1975): Academy Award win.
44** ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' (1977)
45** ''Film/NineteenFortyOne1979''
46** ''Franchise/IndianaJones''
47** ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' (1982): Academy Award win.
48** ''Film/EmpireOfTheSun'' (1987)
49** ''Film/{{Always}}'' (1989)
50** ''Film/{{Hook}}'' (1991)
51** ''Film/{{Jurassic Park|1993}}'' (1993)
52** ''Film/SchindlersList'' (1993): Academy Award win.
53** ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' (1997)
54** ''Film/{{Amistad}}'' (1997)
55** ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'' (1998)
56** ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence'' (2001)
57** ''Film/MinorityReport'' (2002)
58** ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'' (2002)
59** ''Film/TheTerminal'' (2004)
60** ''Film/{{War of the Worlds|2005}}'' (2005)
61** ''Film/{{Munich}}'' (2005)
62** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Adventures of Tintin|2011}}'' (2011)
63** ''Film/WarHorse'' (2011)
64** ''Film/{{Lincoln}}'' (2012)
65** ''Film/TheBFG'' (2016)
66** ''Film/ThePost'' (2017)
67** ''Film/TheFabelmans'' (2022): his Academy Award nomination for it made him the oldest person ever nominated for a competitive Oscar (at age 90)
68* ''Film/{{Earthquake}}'' (1974)
69* ''Film/TheToweringInferno'' (1974)
70* ''Film/TheEigerSanction'' (1975)
71* ''Film/FamilyPlot'' (1976)
72* ''Film/{{Midway|1976}}'' (1976)
73* ''Literature/{{Black Sunday|ThomasHarris}}'' (1977)
74* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Starting in 1977 he scored the all of the Original Trilogy and the Prequel Trilogy, with well-known pieces like "Main Title" (the opening {{fanfare}}), "[[BootstrappedTheme Luke's Theme]]", "The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)" and "Duel of The Fates". He won an Academy Award for ''Film/ANewHope''. He returned to score ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', ''Film/TheLastJedi'', and ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker''. The latter has been confirmed to be [[GrandFinale his very last for the franchise]]. He also composed the theme "The Adventures of Han" for ''Film/{{Solo}}'' (the rest of the movie was scored by John Powell), the ''Ride/StarWarsGalaxysEdge'' Symphonic Suite and the main theme of ''Series/ObiWanKenobi''.
75* ''Film/TheFury'' (1978)
76* ''Film/Jaws2'' (1978)
77* ''Film/SupermanFilmSeries''
78** ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' (1978)
79** ''Film/SupermanIVTheQuestForPeace'' (1987) (film actually scored by Alexander Courage, with Williams providing new thematic material.)
80* ''Film/{{Dracula|1979}}'' (1979)
81* ''Film/{{Heartbeeps}}'' (1981)
82* ''Film/TheRiver'' (1984)
83* ''Film/SpaceCamp'' (1986)
84* ''Film/TheWitchesOfEastwick'' (1987)
85* ''Film/TheAccidentalTourist'' (1988)
86* ''Film/BornOnTheFourthOfJuly'' (1989)
87* ''Film/PresumedInnocent'' (1990)
88* ''Film/HomeAlone'':
89** ''Film/HomeAlone1'' (1990)
90** ''Film/HomeAlone2LostInNewYork'' (1992)
91* ''Film/{{JFK}}'' (1991)
92* ''Film/FarAndAway'' (1992)
93* ''[[Film/Sabrina1995 Sabrina]]'' (1995), for which he also earned a Best Song nomination.
94* ''Film/{{Nixon}}'' (1995)
95* ''Film/{{Sleepers}}'' (1995)
96* ''Film/{{Rosewood|1997}}'' (1997)
97* ''Film/SevenYearsInTibet'' (1997)
98* ''Film/{{Stepmom}}'' (1998)
99* ''Literature/AngelasAshes'' (1999)
100* ''Film/{{The Patriot|2000}}'' (2000)
101* ''Film/HarryPotter''
102** ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' (2001): Introduced "Hedwig's Theme," which subsequently became the BootstrappedTheme of the entire franchise.
103** ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' (2002): Technically, William Ross adapted the score from Williams's music, as he was busy scoring two Spielberg movies that year.
104** ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'' (2004)
105* ''Literature/MemoirsOfAGeisha'' (2005)
106* ''Literature/TheBookThief'' (2013)
107* ''WesternAnimation/DearBasketball'' (2017--animated short)
108
109!! TV series that John Williams did the theme songs for with TV Tropes pages:
110* ''Series/KraftSuspenseTheatre'' (1963-65)
111* ''Series/LostInSpace'' (1965-68)
112* ''Series/TheTimeTunnel'' (1966-67)
113* ''Series/LandOfTheGiants'' (1968-70)
114* ''Series/AmazingStories'' (1985-87) He also scored the episodes "[[Recap/AmazingStories1985S1E1GhostTrain Ghost Train]]" and "[[Recap/AmazingStories1985S1E5TheMission The Mission]]"
115
116!!His work provides examples of:
117* AssociatedComposer: Famously, Williams has scored almost all the films of Creator/StevenSpielberg. The only exceptions are ''Film/BridgeOfSpies'', due to a health issue, ''Film/TheColorPurple1985'', which they mutually agreed would be better served with music by Music/QuincyJones, ''[[Film/ReadyPlayerOne2018 Ready Player One]]'', due to a scheduling conflict, and ''Film/{{West Side Story|2021}}'', on which he worked a music consultant after suggesting composer Music/DavidNewman and conductor Gustavo Dudamel. He's also worked on multiple projects with Creator/GeorgeLucas, Creator/ChrisColumbus, Creator/IrwinAllen, Creator/OliverStone, Creator/RobertAltman and Creator/MarkRydell.
118%%* AwardBaitSong:
119* BootstrappedTheme:
120** ''Star Wars'''s main theme was originally intended to be purely "Luke's Theme", though it became so synonymous with the franchise as a whole, Williams forewent creating a new main theme for the prequels, and even included the theme in several places in the prequel scores. A rearranged but still recognizable version of the theme was later used for the animated ''Clone Wars''.
121** Williams originally scored the scene where Luke looks out to the double sunset with his theme but George Lucas suggested he use the theme he wrote for Obi-Wan instead. Williams complied and now it is known as "Binary Sunset" and used for any scene involving the Force. (It's also one of the best examples of the power of music in film, as it turns a simple shot of a young man staring into the sunset into a powerful scene of desolation and longing.)
122** "Hedwig's Theme" has ended up being the theme of the whole ''Harry Potter'' series.
123* CallBack: If you listen to the ''Star Wars'' soundtracks in particular, there are so many cues in pieces that appear in ANH and TESB that get brought back in ROTJ and the Prequels to nod back to those moments.
124* CreatorCameo: During ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', Williams can be briefly seen surrounded by objects referencing all 51 (at the time of filming the scene) movie scores he had composed that were nominated for an Academy Award. His character, [[SignificantAnagram Oma Tres]] dies as Kijimi blows up.
125* DeathlyDiesIrae: Very common in his work. Multiple ''Franchise/StarWars'' films, ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'', ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'', ''Film/{{Jaws}}'', ''Film/JurassicPark1993'', ''Film/HomeAlone'', ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' and ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds2005'' all feature the famous four notes of ''dies irae'' during suspenseful or dramatic sequences.
126* {{Fanfare}}: He's so good, he's gotten raves from the directors just from watching him conduct. Creator/RichardDonner even admitted he screwed up a recording take for ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' by running into the room shouting how great it was.
127* {{Leitmotif}}: A technique favored heavily by Williams. Some of his more well known motifs include several character themes from ''Franchise/StarWars'', the ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' theme's menacing cello notes, and the mysterious 5 note melody from ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind''.
128* NeverTrustATitle: A lot of his score for ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds2005'' was moved to different scenes than it was originally composed for. As a result, many of the track titles don't make sense. A standout example is "The Separation of the Family", which plays in the film when the family is ''reunited'' at the end.
129* OutgrowingTheChildishName: In his early career as a jazz pianist, he was credited as "Little Johnny Love" Williams. In his early work as a TV composer, this was reduced to "Johnny Williams," and he dropped the diminutives altogether once his career as a film composer started taking off. He was also more formally credited as John T. Williams and John Towner in his jazz days.
130* ShoutOut:
131** The soundtrack of ''Star Wars'' strongly references [[Music/GustavHolst Gustav Holst's]] ''[[StealthPun The Planets]]''. Does [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bcRCCg01I this]] remind you of anything?
132** Furthermore, give some of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yctfXIqugXc Dvořák's 9th Symphony]] a listen, and then [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV8i-pSVMaQ&ab_channel=RobertDarwin this]].
133** [[https://youtu.be/Sa70uFuKnnw?t=113 The ET flight theme]] bears striking similarities to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbuDPcVK-J4&ab_channel=PatrickFrey this segment to another Dvorak piece]].
134** As sort of a self ShoutOut, Williams uses a few notes of the music he composed for the first Harry Potter film in one of the final scenes of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. Fitting, since both scenes involve an infant with great potential being left with relatives after the death of their mother.
135** Compare [[https://youtu.be/rP42C-4zL3w?t=952 this segment]] from [[Music/IgorStravinsky Stravinsky's]] ''Theatre/TheRiteOfSpring'' to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FO9sxl821Q&ab_channel=Celestic the desert music from the original Star Wars.]]
136** Another self ShoutOut that is easy to miss but very difficult to forget is in the Franchise/JurassicPark theme - when it really kicks in, it heavily references [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind five other famous notes.]]
137** Yet another: Pay attention to the trombone-notes in ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'', after the mother ship lands...and you will recognize a brief, but unmistakable, [[Film/{{Jaws}} "duh-DUH, duh-DUH"]]!
138** Yet another one from ''Revenge Of The Sith'' -- When Obi-Wan rides the giant lizard the music sounds very similar to the music from ''Jurassic Park'' when Nedry is stealing the dinosaur embryos.
139* SpoilerTitle: Even his fans admit he's incredibly guilty of this with his track titles:
140** Arguably his greatest crime in this regard is ''Film/PresumedInnocent''. Seriously, if you don't have this soundtrack album '''do not''' get it before seeing the movie, as the penultimate track is called [[spoiler: "Barbara's Confession."]] That's right, the title gives away the killer!
141** ''Star Wars'' fans probably believe that honour goes to track 15 of the original 1 disc soundtrack for ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', which is entitled [[spoiler: "Qui-Gon's Noble End"]]. Followed by the track [[spoiler: "The High Council Meeting and Qui-Gon's Funeral"]], in case that wasn't clear enough. For reference, the soundtrack album was released several weeks before the film came out in theaters.
142** His soundtrack for ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'' contains a whopping four -- [[spoiler:Lupin's Transformation]], [[spoiler:The Werewolf Scene]], [[spoiler:Saving Buckbeak]] and [[spoiler:Forward to Time Past]] -- that basically spell out what happens during the film's climax. One wonders if the reason [[spoiler:Pettigrew's theme]] wasn't included on the soundtrack was to preserve the only major twist the movie had left.

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