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
  1. (1972) The Poseidon Adventure -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  2. (1973) Cinderella Liberty -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  3. (1973) "Nice to Be Around" (from Cinderella Liberty) -- Best Original Song
  4. (1973) Tom Sawyer -- Best Score Adaptation
  5. (1974) The Towering Inferno -- Best Original Score
  6. (1975) Jaws -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  7. (1977) Star Wars -- Best Original Score
  8. (1977) Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- Best Original Score
  9. (1978) Superman -- Best Original Score
  10. (1980) The Empire Strikes Back -- Best Original Score
  11. (1981) Raiders of the Lost Ark -- Best Original Score
  12. (1982) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial -- Best Original Score
  13. (1982) "If We Were in Love" (from Yes, Giorgio) -- Best Original Song
  14. (1983) Return of the Jedi -- Best Original Score
  15. (1984) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom -- Best Original Score
  16. (1984) The River -- Best Original Score
  17. (1987) Empire of the Sun -- Best Original Score
  18. (1987) The Witches of Eastwick -- Best Original Score
  19. (1988) The Accidental Tourist -- Best Original Score
  20. (1989) Born on the Fourth of July -- Best Original Score
  21. (1989) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade -- Best Original Score
  22. (1990) Home Alone -- Best Original Score
  23. (1990) "Somewhere in My Memory" (from Home Alone) -- Best Original Song
  1. (1991) JFK -- Best Original Score
  2. (1991) "When You're Alone" (from Hook) -- Best Original Song
  3. (1993) Schindler's List -- Best Original Score
  4. (1995) Nixon -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  5. (1995) Sabrina -- Best Original Musical or Comedy Score
  6. (1995) "Moonlight" (from Sabrina) -- Best Original Song
  7. (1996) Sleepers -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  8. (1997) Amistad -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  9. (1998) Saving Private Ryan -- Best Original Dramatic Score
  10. (1999) Angela's Ashes -- Best Original Score
  11. (2000) The Patriot -- Best Original Score
  12. (2001) A.I. Artificial Intelligence -- Best Original Score
  13. (2001) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- Best Original Score
  14. (2002) Catch Me If You Can -- Best Original Score
  15. (2004) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban -- Best Original Score
  16. (2005) Memoirs of a Geisha -- Best Original Score
  1. (2005) Munich -- Best Original Score
  2. (2011) The Adventures of Tintin -- Best Original Score
  3. (2011) War Horse -- Best Original Score
  4. (2012) Lincoln -- Best Original Score
  5. (2013) The Book Thief -- Best Original Score
  6. (2015) Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- Best Original Score