He composes even in his 90s: Who is John Williams?

John Williams, the composer of the music of iconic films such as Home Alone, Harry Potter, ET The Extra-Terrestrial, Star Wars, Jaws, and Indiana Jones, signaled that he is working on new projects as his birthday approaches as if to disappoint his retirement expectations.

The legendary composer, who took home the Oscar Award five times and said in an interview with The Times UK that he "never ignores anything" despite his age, is getting ready to turn 92 next February 8.

John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer and conductor. In a career that has spanned seven decades, he has composed some of the most popular, recognizable and critically acclaimed film scores in cinema history. Williams has won 25 Grammy Awards, five Academy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. With 53 Academy Award nominations, he is the second-most nominated person, after Walt Disney. His compositions are often considered the epitome of orchestral film music and he is considered among the greatest composers in the history of cinema. Williams is known for his collaborations with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, and has worked with such diverse directors as Alfred Hitchcock, Brian De Palma, Robert Altman, Chris Columbus, Oliver Stone, Richard Donner, Irvin Kershner, Sydney Pollack, Mark Rydell, Mark Robson, Jean-Jacques Annaud, and J. J. Abrams. He has a very distinct sound that mixes romanticism, impressionism and atonal music with complex orchestration.

In another interview in June 2022, Williams stated that his work in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny will probably be his last work, suggesting that he is preparing to retire, and said, "He is currently working on Indiana Jones 5, which Harrison Ford, who is a little younger than me, announced will be the last film of his career." "So I thought, if Harrison can do it, maybe I can do it too. At this stage of my life, still composing movie scores is just a long relationship between me and my life," he said.

When Williams rolled up his sleeves and talked to Spielberg for Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans in January 2023, he stated that he could not give up composing music for a new Spielberg movie despite the possibility of retiring. John Williams and Steven Spielberg, one of Hollywood's legendary duos, have previously teamed up for Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, ET The Extra-Terrestrial, Schindler's List, and many other classics.

If you've read this far, it's worth mentioning: that John Williams is an iconic composer who is passionate about his work and is ready to put his retirement dreams aside when it comes to the right project and timing. Whether Williams will take home a new Oscar statuette at the age of 92 will be determined by the success of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, for which he wrote the soundtrack last year. The fate of the film, which was included in the shortlist of the Academy Awards for Best Original Score, will be determined with the 2024 Oscar Academy Awards nomination list, which will be announced on January 23, 2024.

Musician in the family

Born in 1932 to a musical family, John Williams has been involved with music since his early age. Williams grew up in a home surrounded by music, as his father was a jazz drummer; He started playing instruments such as piano and trumpet from an early age. It is also rumored that he read the notes before he even learned how to read.

With his enrollment at UCLA in 1948, his first contact with film music, the studio environment, and Hollywood began. In the 1960s, he worked as a jazz pianist in bars and started composing music for television programs such as Lost in Space. These ventures for television can also be considered as John Williams' first step into Hollywood. Another important stage of this process was his meeting with another legend of the period, Henry Mancini.

He learns the tricks of film musicianship from Mancini; In other words, he/she experiences the operation of the business from the most accurate source. As you know, Henry Mancini composed the music for many cult productions, especially the Pink Panther series.

Meeting Speilberg and Jaws

When we come to the 1970s, a meeting takes place that will change the history of cinema. John Williams meets a young director named Steven Spielberg, who was not yet known at that time. Spielberg tells him about a project called Jaws. The production, which tells the story of a killer shark and the fight of the townspeople, has a simple story on paper. However, in Speilberg's hands, the film stands out as a very innovative production for its time, whose tension never dropped for a moment. There is a need for a musician who can convey this tension and atmosphere well. John Williams is the best person for this job. His musical talent can take the movie to another level.

When Speilberg's narrative, which never lets up the tension, is combined with Williams' Jaws melody, which has become a classic today, a cult work was created. The unsettling, tense tone that Williams incorporated into the sequences where Jaws slowly floats out of the water quickly went down in cinema history. Even after the movie, it became the background music of all thriller movies.

The film, released in 1974, was a great success at the box office. This work also marks the beginning of Spielberg and John Williams' long-lasting friendship. After Jaws, the duo will have the chance to work together in films such as Indiana Jones, ET, Saving Private Ryan, and Jurrasic Park. Over the years, Williams and Spielberg's friendship becomes much deeper and stronger. The duo has been involved in more than 20 projects together to date.

The most interesting detail about the friendship between Spielberg and Williams is this: Spielberg knocks on John Williams' door again for the movie Schindler's List, which he shot in 1993. John Williams, who watched the movie, was very impressed by it. He tells Spielberg to find a better composer because this film will surpass him, and Spielberg's joking response is quite significant: "Yes, I know, but all the other good musicians are dead."

May the force be with you!

Apart from Spielberg, there is another person with whom Williams maintains a close friendship. When the calendar shows the year 1977, the history of cinema witnesses another historical meeting. George Lucas, one of Spielberg's close friends, wanted to realize a project called Star Wars, which was not very familiar at that time. In the movie, there are lightsabers, giant spaceships, and characters wearing black cloaks and black masks breathing deeply. George Lucas is looking for epic music composed with a large orchestra, suitable for the space opera he has written. John Williams is perfect for this job. John Williams loved the subject of the movie and decided to compose the music for the movie.

Star Wars A New Hope begins with some words in yellow font flowing up and down in space, while the now-classic Star Wars anthem plays in the background. Then the camera moves down and a giant spaceship is chasing a much smaller spaceship with a laser gun. This scene, shot meticulously by Lucas, turned into an epic feast with Williams' powerful melodies. Another legendary theme music in the movie plays in the scene where former Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi appears for the first time. The name of this theme is Force Theme, and it is also a melody that symbolizes the Jedi in all subsequent Star Wars movies.