John Williams

@University Of California, Los Angeles, Timeline and Childhood

John Williams is a multiple award-winning, widely successful American composer, conductor and pianist

Feb 8, 1932

AmericanJuilliard SchoolUniversity Of California, Los AngelesMusiciansPianistsComposersAquarius Celebrities
Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: February 8, 1932
  • Nationality: American
  • Famous: Juilliard School, University Of California, Los Angeles, Musicians, Pianists, Composers
  • Spouses: Barbara Ruick, Samantha Winslow
  • Known as: John Towner Williams
  • Childrens: Jennifer Williams, Joseph Williams, Mark Towner Williams
  • Universities:
    • Juilliard School,University Of California, Los Angeles
    • University of California
    • Los Angeles
    • 1950 - North Hollywood High School
    • Juilliard School

John Williams born at

Floral Park

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Birth Place

John Williams married American actress and singer, Barbara Ruick in 1956. The couple had three children: Jennifer, Joseph and Mark. Barbara passed away in 1974.

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Personal Life

He married Samantha Winslow, a photographer, in 1980.

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Personal Life

John Williams was born on February 8, 1932 in Floral Park, New York, to Esther and Johnny Williams. His father was a jazz percussionist with the CBS radio orchestra.

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Childhood & Early Life

Owing to his father's profession and interests, music and instruments left an impression in the young boy’s mind and soon he began playing the piano, trumpet, trombone and clarinet.

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Childhood & Early Life

After moving to Los Angeles in 1948, he attended North Hollywood High School and the University of California, LA. He was also privately tutored by the Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco for some time.

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Childhood & Early Life

In 1952, he was drafted into the U.S. Air Force. He used to conduct and arrange music for the Air Force band till his service ended in 1955.

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Childhood & Early Life

In 1955, he enrolled at The Julliard School in New York City and studied piano with Rosina Lhevinne. Here, he also began playing in many clubs with Jack Sperling on drums, Bob Bain on guitar and Rolly Bundock on bass.

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Childhood & Early Life

After his first film composition for ‘Daddy-O’ in 1958, John Williams composed music for films like ‘Peter Gunn’, ‘Days of Wine and Roses’ and TV programs such as ‘Bachelor Father’, the ‘Kraft Suspense Theatre’, ‘Lost in Space’, etc. during the 1960s.

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Career

He gained reputation and made a name for himself with the musical scores for the films ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, ‘Images’, ‘The Poseidon Adventure’, ‘The Towering Inferno’, ‘Earthquake’, and ‘The Cowboys’ during the early 1970s.

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Career

In 1974, he composed the music for Steven Spielberg's directorial debut 'The Sugarland Express'. This marked the beginning of a very long director-composer bond between them, with John Williams composing for all but two films by Spielberg.

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Career

In 1978 he worked with director Richard Donner for the film 'Superman'. The love theme ‘Can You Read My Mind’ appeared in the next four sequels too.

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Career

In 1980, he succeeded Arthur Fiedler as the Boston Pops Orchestra's Principal conductor. Years later, he vacated the position for former associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Keith Lockhart.

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Career

John Williams currently holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person with 50 nominations and is second only to Walt Disney (59 nominations) in the Academy Awards history.

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Awards & Achievements

He has won the Academy Award on five different occasions. These include: ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ (1971), ‘Jaws’ (1975) and ‘Star Wars’ (1977), ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ (1982) and ‘Schindler's List’ (1993).

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Awards & Achievements

In 2003, he was accorded the International Olympic Committee’s highest honor, the Olympic Order. A year later, he received the Kennedy Center Honors.

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Awards & Achievements

For his achievements in Symphonic music, he was given the National Medal of Arts in the White House in 2009 and a Ken Burns Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.

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Awards & Achievements

He has also been inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame.

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Awards & Achievements