John Williams – Composer Extraordinaire

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“John Williams should need little introduction since he is almost certainly the most well-known film composer, and possibly to many people the best-known composer,period. He was born in New York where his father Johnny Williams was a percussist and the young John started piano lessons from age 7. When the family moved to the West coast, his father found session work playing on film soundtracks so it was quite a natural thing for John to start out with similar work as a freelance pianist. During the Golden Age of Hollywood Cinema, he worked as a pianist and arranger with film music luminaries such as Alfred Newman, Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, and later Henry Mancini. With such exposure to the industry, and the encouragement of Newman in particular, Williams made the transition into composition. Among his early work as a composer were the television shows of Irwin Allen such as “Lost in Space”, “Time Tunnel” and “Land of the Giants”. He then composed for a variety of films including “The Reivers”, “The Cowboys” and some popular disaster movies including “The Poseidon Adventure” and “The Towering Inferno”. One particular early success was his first Oscar (of five currently) for his adaptation of Jerry Bock’s music for the stage musical “Fiddler on the Roof”. Williams also conducted and provided the incidental music for the film, and the part of the fiddler himself was played by violinist Isaac Stern.” — mfiles