most influential person who has been
in film. And after all, he garnered the
most accolades, receiving as many as
59 Oscar nominations. But there's
another film titan that deserves a
similar recognition: John Williams. In
a career spanning almost six decades,
he has been one of Western cinema's
most distinctive and indispensable
musical voices.
Williams is the widely acclaimed
composer of the scores for films such
as Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T.
and, of course, Star Wars. In 2014 he
received an Oscar nomination for his
latest score to the World War II drama
The Book Thief. This brought his track
record to a whopping 49 nominations
(and five Oscars won). But it isn't just
quantity: John Williams's film work
has been incomparably influential in
terms of quality.
After rigorous classical training at the
Juilliard School in New York and an
extensive jazz practice, Williams began
his film career in Hollywood in 1956 as
a pianist in the Columbia Studio
orchestra. You can hear him
accompany Marilyn Monroe in Some
Like It Hot and, more prominently,
play the famous piano riff in Peter
Gunn. In his apprentice period – a time
when classical symphonic scoring was
receding in favour of pop music and
songs – he had the opportunity to
witness the last days of the classical
Hollywood music style and to learn the
trade from the old masters.
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