John Williams was born in Floral Park, New York, on February 8, 1932 he was the oldest of four children. As a child, he learned to play the piano , cello, trumpet, trombone – and even formed a band with his friends. When John Williams grew up, he joined the Air Force where he conducted and arranged music  for the bands. When he was discharged, he enrolled in The Julliard School to study piano.

After he finished school, he decided to play piano in movie studio orchestras. His first recordings included soundtracks for the movie, South Pacific, and the TV series, Gilligan’s Island. However, the idea of playing someone else’s music for TV shows and movies didn’t interest him for long. He wanted to compose his own music, and it wasn’t too long before he got his first big break. He was asked to compose the theme for the TV series, Lost in Space.

His next big break came when film director, Steven Spielberg, invited him to compose music for his movies. Their first highly successful film together was Jaws. For this movie, John Williams wrote the most famous single notes next to the introduction to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. When John Williams played the music for Spielberg for the first time, he thought he was kidding. However, John Williams believed his score would be perfect. He was right, and his score earned him his second Academy Award.

Working with Steven Spielberg, John Williams went on to compose some of the greatest music ever written for film, including: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, E.T., Superman, Harry Potter (first 3), and Star Wars, which was selected by the American Film Institute as the greatest film score of all time.

John Williams has won 5 Academy Awards and received 52 Academy Award nominations. He is the second most nominated individual after Walt Disney.

Interview with John Williams 

10 soundtrack clips

Star Wars Main Theme

The Rise of Skywalker

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Jurassic Park

Superman

Schindler’s List

Indiana Jones

ET

Home Alone

The Flute and the Warhorse Theme

“I don’t have a synthesizer or computer. I haven’t been educated in that technology. When I was studying and learning music, these things didn’t exist and I’ve actually been too busy in the intervening years to retool and learn it all.”

—John Williams

“I think also, especially for practicing musicians, age is not so much of a concern because a lifetime is just simply not long enough for the study of music anyway. You’re never anywhere near finished. So the idea of retiring or putting it aside is unthinkable. There’s too much to learn.”

—John Williams

“It feels good to hold a pen or pencil in your hand and dirty up paper.”

—John Williams

“I developed from very early on a habit of writing something every day, good or bad.”