Modern · 1900–2000

John Williams

“The Sound of the Movies”

⭐ Born 1932, New York, USA🎼 Still composing today⏳ 94 years old

The most famous film composer who ever lived — the man who gave us the sound of Star Wars, and taught the whole world to hum along at the movies.

The Modern era (1900–2000): Rules are broken — new scales, wild rhythms and sounds nobody had ever imagined.

He wrote the music for Star Wars, Jurassic Park, E.T., Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Jaws and Superman — probably the most famous film music ever composed.
The two-note shark theme from Jaws — just two notes, closer and closer together — became one of the scariest sounds in cinema. Proof that two notes can terrify.
He has been nominated for more Academy Awards than any living person, and more Oscars than anyone in history except Walt Disney.
He brought the grand, sweeping sound of the Romantic orchestra roaring back into cinemas, at a time when it had gone out of fashion.
He led the famous Boston Pops Orchestra for many years, and is still composing and conducting in his nineties.
He gives each hero their own musical 'signature tune' (a leitmotif) — an idea he borrowed straight from the operas of Wagner.

Star Wars 1977 Film score

The blazing brass fanfare and soaring themes that launched the most famous film music of all time — a whole galaxy conjured in sound.

Jaws 1975 Film score

Two alternating notes, creeping faster and faster, became the terrifying sound of the shark — cinema's proof that less can be scariest.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982 Film score

Soaring, tender music that makes a bicycle appear to fly — some of the most heart-lifting film music ever written.

1932Born in New York.

1956Works as a studio pianist and arranger in Hollywood.

1969The first humans land on the Moon.

1975His shark theme for Jaws wins worldwide fame and an Academy Award.

1977Star Wars makes him the most famous film composer alive.

1977Star Wars transforms what a film — and film music — could be.

1980Becomes conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.

1989The fall of the Berlin Wall.

2001Begins scoring the Harry Potter films with 'Hedwig's Theme'.

2007The first iPhone launches the smartphone age.