50 Fun Facts About John Williams

In which New York borough was John Williams born in 1932?

His father Johnny Williams was a jazz drummer with the Raymond Scott Quintet; the family moved to Los Angeles in 1948.

What did Williams's father do for a living?

Johnny Williams collaborated with Bernard Herrmann, and his son sometimes joined him at rehearsals.

Which branch of the military did Williams join in 1951, playing piano and arranging for its band?

He was stationed in Tucson and then in St. John's, Newfoundland, where he wrote his first film music for a tourism promotion.

With which famous teacher did Williams study piano at Juilliard in 1955?

He took private lessons rather than enrolling, and switched to composition after hearing John Browning and Van Cliburn play.

Williams played the piano part in the famous title theme of which Henry Mancini television series?

As a session pianist he also recorded Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, To Kill a Mockingbird and West Side Story.

Under what first name did John Williams release early jazz albums such as Jazz Beginnings?

He also worked as arranger and bandleader on pop albums with Ray Vasquez and Frankie Laine.

Which producer's series Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants did Williams score in the 1960s?

He also scored the pilot of Gilligan's Island and later Allen's disaster films The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno and Earthquake.

Williams's first Academy Award nomination came for which 1967 film?

He was nominated again for Goodbye, Mr. Chips in 1969 and won his first Oscar for adapting Fiddler on the Roof in 1971.

Williams's first Oscar was for adapting the score of which 1971 musical?

The award was for Best Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score; the original music was Jerry Bock's.

Which 1974 film was Williams's first collaboration with the director he called 'this seventeen-year-old kid'?

Spielberg, whom Williams remembered as 'this seventeen-year-old kid', had been impressed by his scores for The Reivers and The Cowboys.

How did Spielberg react when Williams first played him the two-note Jaws theme on the piano?

After hearing the idea at different speeds, Spielberg conceded that 'sometimes the best ideas are the most simple ones'.

The Jaws shark theme is an ostinato alternating which two notes?

The low-strings figure was performed by tuba player Tommy Johnson; Williams has said it derives from Ravel's La valse.

Which Williams score did Spielberg use as a temp track while editing Jaws?

Williams named his Images score, written for Robert Altman with a debt to Varèse, as a personal favourite.

How many notes make up the famous alien communication motif in Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

Williams later realised the surprise of the last two notes comes because the first three are already resolved.

What did Williams call the theme he wrote for Indiana Jones in the hero's first film?

He also wrote themes for the Ark itself, for Marion Ravenwood and for the Nazi villains.

Spielberg liked Williams's cue for E.T.'s climactic chase so much that he did what?

The score won Williams his second Oscar for Best Original Score.

When Williams said Spielberg needed 'a better composer' for Schindler's List, what did Spielberg reply?

Williams asked Itzhak Perlman to play the main theme, and the score won his fourth Oscar for Best Original Score.

Which violinist performs the main theme of Schindler's List?

Williams later wrote his Violin Concerto No. 2 for Anne-Sophie Mutter, who recorded his film themes on the album Across the Stars.

For which Spielberg film did Williams write a national anthem for the fictional country of Krakozhia?

His jazz-inspired Catch Me If You Can score two years earlier nodded to Henry Mancini.

Which Spielberg film was Williams's first score for an animated feature?

He used 1920s European jazz for the credits and 'pirate music' for the sea battles, and won an Annie Award.

Which composer scored Spielberg's The Color Purple, one of few Spielberg features Williams did not score?

Thomas Newman later took over Bridge of Spies when Williams had a minor health issue in 2015.

Who recommended Williams to George Lucas for his 1977 space opera?

Williams's symphonic score drew on Dvořák, Holst's The Planets and Golden Age Hollywood composers Steiner and Korngold.

Which theme did Williams introduce in The Empire Strikes Back for Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire?

The same score added Yoda's Theme and 'Han Solo and the Princess'; the Emperor's Theme came in Return of the Jedi.

What cameo role does Williams play in the ninth episode of the Skywalker saga, The Rise of Skywalker?

His character is named Oma Tres; he had said the ninth film would 'round out a series of nine, that will be quite enough for me'.

Which ensemble recorded the original 1977 Lucas space-opera score?

The Library of Congress later added the score to the National Recording Registry.

Richard Donner said his 1978 superhero film's three-note theme motif musically evoked what?

He ran onto the soundstage during the demo shouting 'The music actually says Superman!', and Williams agreed 'there's everything to that'.

Which was Alfred Hitchcock's final film, scored by Williams in 1976?

Hitchcock's one instruction was to remember that 'murder can be fun'.

What is the name of the news music package Williams wrote for NBC in 1985?

Two of its four movements are still used on Today, NBC Nightly News and Meet the Press.

How many Harry Potter films did Williams score?

His Hedwig's Theme was used in every later film; David Yates wanted him back for the finale but the schedules did not align.

Hedwig's Theme opens with a solo on which instrument?

The bell-like keyboard sets up the main theme on which the rest of the piece is built.

Whom did Williams succeed as principal conductor of the Boston Pops in 1980?

He never met Fiedler in person, only spoke to him by telephone; Keith Lockhart succeeded Williams in 1995.

Why did Williams briefly resign from the Boston Pops in 1984?

He walked out of the rehearsal; after apologies from the musicians he withdrew his resignation and stayed nine more years.

Which cellist premiered Williams's cello concerto with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood in 1994?

Ma also played in Air and Simple Gifts at Obama's first inauguration and was Williams's guest at Carnegie Hall in 2024.

Williams's bassoon concerto, premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 1995, has what title?

It was written for principal bassoonist Judith LeClair; TreeSong and Heartwood are later works for violin and cello.

John Williams's inauguration piece Air and Simple Gifts is based on a hymn made famous by which composer?

He chose 'Simple Gifts' from Appalachian Spring because he knew Obama admired Copland; Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman performed it.

For which Summer Olympics did Williams write his first Olympic theme?

He also wrote themes for the 1988, 1996 and 2002 Games and received the IOC's Olympic Order in 2003.

Which orchestra invited Williams to conduct in January 2020, his first European engagement?

The recording John Williams in Vienna, with Anne-Sophie Mutter, became the bestselling orchestral album of 2020; Berlin followed in 2021.

How many Academy Award nominations had Williams received as of the 2024 ceremony?

Second only to Walt Disney's 59. He has won five, was the only person nominated in seven consecutive decades, and his 2024 nod at 91 made him the oldest nominee ever.

How many Grammy Awards has Williams won?

He has also collected five Oscars, seven BAFTAs, three Emmys and four Golden Globes.

Williams's son Joseph is best known as the lead singer of which rock band?

Williams's grandsons Bobby and Ethan Gruska form the duo The Belle Brigade.

John Williams's first wife Barbara Ruick starred in which 1956 film he worked on as an uncredited orchestrator?

They married that year and remained together until her death in 1974; he married photographer Samantha Winslow in 1980.

What honour did Queen Elizabeth II award Williams in 2022 'for services to film music'?

It was one of the final two honorary knighthoods of her seventy-year reign.

Which Williams score did the American Film Institute rank first among the 100 greatest film scores?

Jaws and E.T. also made the AFI list.

To which institution did Williams announce he would bequeath his library of scores and sketchbooks?

He made the announcement in 2018 on receiving the school's President's Medal.

The 2024 Disney+ documentary about the composer's career carries what title?

That year he was also inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and named a Disney Legend.

With which Italian composer did Williams study composition privately in Los Angeles?

He attended North Hollywood High School and UCLA after the family moved west in 1948.

Williams's first film composition, in 1952, was a promotional film for which Canadian province?

He wrote You Are Welcome while stationed at Pepperrell Air Force Base.

What was the first feature film Williams scored, in 1958?

Because They're Young followed two years later.

Which violinist, introduced by André Previn, recorded the Williams album Across the Stars?

The 2019 album featured his film themes newly arranged for violin.

Which honour, the IOC's highest for an individual, did Williams receive in 2003?

It is the IOC's highest individual award; he wrote themes for four Olympic Games.