John Williams: Hollywood Music Legend Receives 50th Oscar Nomination

'Star Wars' composer John Williams receives 50th Oscar nomination

John Williams
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - MARCH 09: Composer John Williams speaks on stage during the 30th Annual ASCAP Film & Television Music Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on March 9, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/WireImage).
by Christopher McKittrick
Christopher McKittrick is a film writer whose work has been featured in anthologies such as 100 Entertainers Who Changed America.
Updated July 01, 2017

Jaws, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Superman, and Harry Potter -- what do they all have in common? The music of John Williams. Williams' compositions have permeated pop culture like no other film composer before him, and he has been well-recognized for it by the Academy Awards. Williams received his 50th Oscar nomination in 2016 for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, an astounding feat for his seven-decade career. Williams is likely most recognized for his scoring of Steven Spielberg's films. He has composed the scores for every film directed by Spielberg except for The Color Purple and Bridge of Spies.

In fact, Williams has been nominated so often in some years he has been in competition with himself -- meaning that he was nominated twice in the same category in the same year, including in 1977 when he was nominated for Best Original Score for both Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (he won the Oscar for Star Wars). Williams has won five Oscars, his last win coming for Best Original Score for Schindler's List.

Williams is now behind only Walt Disney for most Oscar nominations (Disney was nominated for 59). However, Williams has not won as many Oscars as legendary Hollywood composer Alfred Newman. Newman won nine Oscars out of 43 nominations.

The following list of films Williams was nominated for contain some of the most recognizable film music ever composed. Nominations in which Williams went on to win the Oscar are marked in bold.

  1. (1967) Valley of the Dolls -- Best Score Adaptation
  2. (1969) Goodbye, Mr Chips -- Best Score Adaptation
  3. (1969) The Reivers -- Best Original Score
  4. (1971) Fiddler on the Roof -- Best Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score
  5. (1972) Images -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  6. (1972) The Poseidon Adventure -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  7. (1973) Cinderella Liberty -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  8. (1973) "Nice to Be Around" (from Cinderella Liberty) -- Best Original Song
  9. (1973) Tom Sawyer -- Best Score Adaptation
  10. (1974) The Towering Inferno -- Best Original Score
  11. (1975) Jaws -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  12. (1977) Star Wars -- Best Original Score
  13. (1977) Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- Best Original Score
  14. (1978) Superman -- Best Original Score
  15. (1980) The Empire Strikes Back -- Best Original Score
  16. (1981) Raiders of the Lost Ark -- Best Original Score
  17. (1982) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial -- Best Original Score
  18. (1982) "If We Were in Love" (from Yes, Giorgio) -- Best Original Song
  19. (1983) Return of the Jedi -- Best Original Score
  1. (1984) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom -- Best Original Score
  2. (1984) The River -- Best Original Score
  3. (1987) Empire of the Sun -- Best Original Score
  4. (1987) The Witches of Eastwick -- Best Original Score
  5. (1988) The Accidental Tourist -- Best Original Score
  6. (1989) Born on the Fourth of July -- Best Original Score
  7. (1989) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade -- Best Original Score
  8. (1990) Home Alone -- Best Original Score
  9. (1990) "Somewhere in My Memory" (from Home Alone) -- Best Original Song
  10. (1991) JFK -- Best Original Score
  11. (1991) "When You're Alone" (from Hook) -- Best Original Song
  12. (1993) Schindler's List -- Best Original Score
  13. (1995) Nixon -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  14. (1995) Sabrina -- Best Original Musical or Comedy Score
  15. (1995) "Moonlight" (from Sabrina) -- Best Original Song
  16. (1996) Sleepers -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  17. (1997) Amistad -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  18. (1998) Saving Private Ryan -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  19. (1999) Angela's Ashes -- Best Original Score
  20. (2000) The Patriot -- Best Original Score
  1. (2001) A.I. Artificial Intelligence -- Best Original Score
  2. (2001) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- Best Original Score
  3. (2002) Catch Me If You Can -- Best Original Score
  4. (2004) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban -- Best Original Score
  5. (2005) Memoirs of a Geisha -- Best Original Score
  6. (2005) Munich -- Best Original Score
  7. (2011) The Adventures of Tintin -- Best Original Score
  8. (2011) War Horse -- Best Original Score
  9. (2012) Lincoln -- Best Original Score
  10. (2013) The Book Thief -- Best Original Score
  11. (2015) Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- Best Original Score