After looking at John Carpenter, John Barry and John Hughes, we now come to the last John that I will be looking at in the month of #Johnuary. John Williams.
Of all the Johns that I have looked at in detail for Johnuary, I probably knew John Williams’ work the best. I don’t think I know anyone who wouldn’t recognise one of his many famous film scores.
It really is incredible when you look through Williams’ work. Pretty much all of the most iconic movie scores are his. Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones. What an incredible legacy. Plus other great ones like E.T. and Jurassic Park. He is probably recognised as the best of the best when it comes to movie scores. His list of awards is never-ending. He has won 5 Oscars and been nominated 50 times (the second most nominated person after Walt Disney). He won Oscars for Fiddler On The Roof, Jaws, Star Wars, E.T. and Schindler’s List.
Williams showed a natural affinity for music from a very young age and became an accomplished pianist. He later got to work with Henry Mancini and played the piano part in the famous Peter Gunn Theme. Movie scores, however, is obviously what he progressed into and what he became known for.
I keep hearing just how humble he is and how much of a gentleman he is. This is certainly evident when he didn’t come out screaming “Get off my lawn, you stalkers” when a couple of high school students started playing the Star Wars music outside his house.
There are some interesting tributes to John Williams, including short speeches from Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, from the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award event. Here’s the playlist.
Join me for the rest of the week as we take a detailed look at John Williams’ amazing work. I wonder which one will come out on top in the end of week ranking.