John Williams

John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. He is best known for his compositions and critically acclaimed film scores in cinematic history, including those of the Star Wars series, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the Indiana Jones series, the first two Home Alone films, Hook, the first two Jurassic Park films, Schindler's List, and the first three Harry Potter films. He has won 24 Grammy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, five Academy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. With 51 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the second most-nominated individual, after Walt Disney. In 2005, the American Film Institute selected Williams's score to 1977's Star Wars as the greatest American film score of all time. He composed the score for eight of the top 20 highest-grossing films at the U.S. box office. John Williams has been nominated for 51 Academy Awards. He currently holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person and is the second most nominated person in Academy Awards history behind Walt Disney's 59. 46 of Williams's Oscar nominations are for Best Original Score and five are for Best Original Song. He won four Oscars for Best Original Score and one for Best Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score. In 1980, Williams received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music. In 2005, the American Film Institute selected Williams's richly thematic and highly popular score to 1977's Star Wars as the greatest American film score of all time. He married Barbara Ruick, an American actress and singer, in 1956. Together they had three children: Jennifer Mark Towner Williams and Joseph who is the lead singer of Toto. The two remained married until her death in 1974. In 1980, Williams married Samantha Winslow, a photographer.

Born on: 8 February, 1932

Born in: Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York, USA