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This article was originally published at showwatcher.com on May 1, 2012.
John Williams is one of the most prolific film composers of all time and is responsible for some of the most memorable movie music for such films as Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, and Harry Potter. He provided scores for musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof, Tom Sawyer, and Yes, Giorgio and worked with lyricists on songs featured in non-musical movies. He is the second-most Oscar-nominated person in Academy Awards history, following Walt Disney. He even acted as orchestrator and musical director for the Oscar telecasts in 1976 and 2002.
His music has a wider reach than just in movies. As “Johnny Williams,” he scored a number of television shows early in his career such as Gilligan’s Island, Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants before moving on to feature film history. From 1980 to 1993, Williams served as Principal Conductor for the Boston Pops Orchestra and is currently the Laureate Conductor of the Pops. He also has a long association with the London Symphony Orchestra, which he has used repeatedly for his film scores. He has composed themes for both NBC News and the Olympics.
How much do you know about John Williams and his Oscars? Click the button below and see if you can pass the quiz:
Take the John Williams Oscar Quiz!
After taking the quiz, scroll down to see more information about the questions (or cheat and skip the quiz altogether):
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Last warning for spoilers!
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1
John Williams earned Academy Award nominations in 6 decades: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.
2
He had multiple Oscar nominations 14 times in the years 1970, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1996, 2002, 2006, and 2012.
3
He received a total of 47 Oscar nominations.
4
He won 5 of the Best Score nominations for the following movies:
- Fiddler on the Roof – 1972*
- Jaws – 1976
- Star Wars – 1978
- E.T. the Extraterrestrial – 1983
- Schindler’s List – 1994
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Five of his nominations were for Best Song; 42 for Best Score (or variations of that, since the name changed over the years). His Best Song nominations were for the following movies:
- Cinderella Liberty with Paul Williams – 1974
- Yes Giorgio with Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman – 1983
- Home Alone with Leslie Bricusse – 1991
- Hook with Leslie Bricusse – 1992
- Sabrina with Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman – 1996
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None of his Best Song nominations won.
7
Of his many films with long-time collaborator Steven Spielberg, 15 of them were nominated for Best Score (plus one Best Song nomination for Hook).
As a bit of trivia, only one feature film directed by Spielberg (not counting Duel, which was first released as a TV movie) was not scored by John Williams: The Color Purple. Producer Quincy Jones composed the music instead.
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While Spielberg is responsible for most of the films John Williams was nominated for, he had collaborations with three other directors that resulted in multiple nominations:
Mark Rydell
- The Reivers – 1970
- Cinderella Liberty (two nominations) – 1974
- The River – 1985
Oliver Stone
- Born on the Fourth of July – 1990
- JFK – 1992
- Nixon – 1996
Chris Columbus
- Home Alone (two nominations) – 1991
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – 2002
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Three of the Star Wars films earned Oscar nominations for John Williams’ scores: Star Wars (1978), The Empire Strikes Back (1981), and Return of the Jedi (1984).
10
Three of the Indiana Jones movies were nominated for Ocars for his music: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1982), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1985), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1990)
* Dates are the year of the Oscar presentation, not year the movie was released.
Information came from IMDb and Wikipedia.
© 2012 Jamie Helton
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FilmVerse 
Boy I thought I knew my John Williams trivia, but I only scored 20%, ahah! In any case, this man is impressive!!
Don’t feel bad. The highest anyone has gotten so far is 50%. The scores won’t count on the final grade.
Well the thing is John Williams is one of my fave composers. I think your quiz is too hard Jamie 😀
You forgot to ask questions about how many classical music sources John Williams blatantly ripped off along the way 😉 But then again, it’s not where it comes from, it’s what you do with it, right? ;-))
I was shocked the first time I heard “The Planets” to discover that it wasn’t written by John Williams. I think of it more as an “homage” than theft.
Yes, I agree, but only because I love his music… If it didn’t move me so, I’d yell plagiarist from the top of my lungs!
One must take inspiration where ever it’s found. I wonder how many composers in future generations will write music that sounds similar to his.
For the record, I’m not really bashing John Williams – many of my favorite soundtracks have his name on them and his music for the latest Star Wars trilogy is 10 times better than any other single aspect of those deformed train wrecks. The music for Revenge of the Sith brought tears to my eyes.
I just watched War Horse last night and was surprised when I realized that I didn’t notice the music at all. When I started listening to it, it was nice, but usually his scores are strong and memorable. It was nominated for an Oscar, so I wonder if it was for its subtlety instead of having an identifiable theme.
That’s interesting. I haven’t seen it yet, but if I do, I’ll have to keep an ear out.