On this date in 1932, composer and conductor John Towner Williams was born in Queens, N.Y., to Esther (née Towner) and Johnny Williams. His father was a movie studio musician who also worked as a CBS Radio Orchestra percussionist. Williams started playing piano at age 6, picking up the bassoon, cello, clarinet, trombone and trumpet as well by the time he entered grade school and sometimes joined his father in rehearsals.
He and his schoolmates formed a small band but he soon learned that instruments like the piano and clarinet could not be played from the same sheet of music so he taught himself how to transpose music.
The family moved to California when Williams was 16. After graduating from North Hollywood High School, he attended UCLA and studied composition before joining the U.S. Air Force, where one of his primary duties was conducting and arranging music for the USAF Band. After the service he switched his academic focus to composition while honing his skills as a pianist and session musician on film recordings by other composers, including Henry Mancini.
Williams’ first feature film composition was for “Daddy-O” (1958) and he composed music for television, including “Bachelor Father” (1957–59), “Kraft Suspense Theatre” (1963–65), “Lost in Space” (1965–68) and “Land of the Giants” (1968–70).
He wrote the score for “None But the Brave” (1965), starring Frank Sinatra. He received his first Academy Award nominations for “Valley of the Dolls” (1967) and “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1969). His first Oscar was for “Fiddler on the Roof” (1971).
To recap Williams’ seven-decade career is daunting. Books have been written about it. As of this writing, it includes 27 Grammy Awards, five Academy Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. His 54 Oscar nominations make him the second-most nominated person in the award’s history, after Walt Disney.
He is known for his numerous collaborations with filmmakers Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Books have also been written about that part of his career. The score for “Jaws” (1975) earned Williams his second Academy Award. Its ominous two-note “ostinato” signaled approaching danger that brought viewers to the edges of their seats. In Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977), Williams’ five-note motif served as the communications signal between earthlings and extraterrestrials.
Lucas called Williams the “secret sauce” of the Star Wars franchise. Williams was delighted to hear later that Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg insisted on having a Star Wars-themed bar mitzvah in New York over his parents’ objections. (New York Times, Feb. 8, 2022)
Williams composed multiple scores over the next decades. From 1980 to 1993, he served as the Boston Pops’ principal conductor, succeeding Arthur Fiedler. He guest-conducted orchestras around the U.S. and internationally into his 90s while recording many performances.
Williams married actress and singer Barbara Ruick in 1956. They had three children: Jennifer (b. 1956), Mark (b. 1958) and Joseph (b. 1960). Joseph is best known as the lead singer of the rock and pop group Toto. The Williams remained married until Barbara’s death in 1974. Williams married Samantha Winslow, a photographer, in 1980.
Williams once recalled a visit to St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Leipzig, Germany, where Johann Sebastian Bach was music director from 1723 until his death in 1750. He is buried there. “On his way out of the church, [Williams] paused. An organist was filling the grand space with the hymn-like theme from ‘Jurassic Park.’ Williams, beaming, turned to the pastor. ‘Now,’ he said, ‘I can die.’ ” (Ibid., New York Times)
As he was turning 90, Williams reflected on his accomplishments and remaining ambitions and what a lifetime of music has meant to him. “It’s given me the ability to breathe, the ability to live and understand that there’s more to corporal life.” Williams said. “It’s given me my life. … All those indelible, perfectly constructed themes, [Williams] believes, are the product less of divine inspiration than daily hard work.” (Associated Press, June 23, 2022)
“In fact, some music fans and writers view Williams as a modern ‘church composer,’ ” said Devin Patrick Hughes, founder and music director of the Boulder Symphony. “They believe that going to a dark movie theater to hear his large, orchestral music gives people the same feeling of wonder and awe that going to church once did.” (undated YouTube video)
PHOTO: Williams in 2024; Lindseysharpe photo under CC 4.0.
