With 54 Academy Award nominations, John Williams is the second-most nominated person, after Walt Disney, and is the oldest Oscar nominee in any category, at 91 years old.
In a career that has spanned seven decades, Williams has composed some of the most popular and critically acclaimed film scores in cinema history.
My Oscar Book:
He has a very distinct sound that mixes romanticism, impressionism and atonal music with complex orchestration.
Best known for his collaborations with Spielberg and George Lucas, he has received numerous accolades including 26 Grammy Awards, five Academy Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards.
Williams’s early work as a film composer includes Valley of the Dolls (1967), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), Images (1972) and The Long Goodbye (1973).
He has collaborated with Spielberg since The Sugarland Express (1974), composing music for all but 5 of his feature films.
He received five Best Original Score Oscars for Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982) and Schindler’s List (1993).
Other memorable collaborations with Spielberg include Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the Indiana Jones franchise (1981–2023), Jurassic Park (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Catch Me If You Can (2002), War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012) and The Fabelmans (2022).
He also scored Superman (1978), the first 2 Home Alone films (1990–1992) and the first 3 Harry Potter films (2001–2004).
