Floral Park native John Williams, the movie composer who’s scored some of highest-grossing films in Hollywood history, holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person.
Williams, who has scored everything from Star Wars to Indiana Jones, ranks only second to Walt Disney for most Academy Awards nominations ever. Williams has had 53 Oscar nods under his belt and five wins. And the 93-year-old composer is now the oldest-ever nominee with his nomination this year for scoring The Fabelmans.
Here’s a look back at John Williams’ nominations.
VALLEY OF THE DOLLS
His first Oscar nomination came in 1968 for this film based on Jacqueline Susann’s 1966 novel of the same name.
GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS
Two years later, Williams was nominated for scoring two films. The British adaptation of Goodbye, Mr. Chips was nominated in the Best Score of a Musical Picture category.
THE REIVERS
Williams was also nominated in 1970 for this film based on the William Faulkner novel and starring Steve McQueen got the nod in the Best Original Score for a Motion Picture (Not a Musical) category.
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Williams’ first Oscar win came in 1972 for film based on Joseph Stein’s screenplay adaption of the 1964 stage musical of the same name that he cowrote.
IMAGES
In 1973, Williams was again nominated for two films, this time in the Best Original Dramatic Score category, for this creepy score for a psychological horror about a children’s book author who goes insane.
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE
That same year, Williams was nominated in the same category for his soundtrack for this disaster film about an ocean liner that capsizes in a tsunami, leaving a small group of survivors.
CINDERELLA LIBERTY
In 1974, Williams was nominated in three categories. He was again nominated in the Best Original Dramatic Score category for his jazzy soundtrack to Cinderella Liberty, a movie about a sailor who falls in love with a sex worker and becomes stepfather to her son.
“NICE TO BE AROUND”
“Nice to be Around,” a song off the Cinderella Liberty soundtrack, got Williams his first Oscar nod in the Best Song category.
TOM SAWYER
Williams’ third nomination that year was in the Best Scoring: Original Song Score and Adaptation or Scoring for this score to the musical film based on the classic Mark Twain novel.
THE TOWERING INFERNO
In 1975, Williams was nominated in the Best Original Dramatic Score for this disaster film, which was the highest grossing film of the year and won three of its eight Oscar nominations, but not in this category.
JAWS
There are some film scores that are so iconic that they take on a life of their own with countless pop culture references that echo through the media decades later. The Jaws soundtrack is one of those film scores. In 1976, it earned Williams his second Oscar win. And besides Williams’ local ties, the movie’s Captain Quint is also based on a Montauk fisherman named Frank Mundus who popularized fishing for great whites. It was directed by Steven Spielberg, who has a home in East Hampton.
STAR WARS
Williams won his third Oscar in 1978, this time in the Best Original Score category, for the epic soundtrack to the first film of George Lucas’ science fiction franchise, which also easily ranks as one of the most recognizable soundtracks of the composer’s career. Williams and Lucas have since collaborated on other films.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
Williams was also nominated in 1978 for another science fiction film he scored, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, directed by another one of his frequent collaborators, Spielberg.
SUPERMAN
The following year, Williams was nominated again in the Best Original Score category for a similarly oft-imitated soundtrack, that of Superman, based on the DC Comics character.
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
While the second installment of the original Star Wars trilogy also got Williams another nod in the Best Original Score category in 1981, the soundtrack did not win the second time around.
RAIDERS OF THE LIST ARK
Spielberg’s first installment in the Indiana Jones saga earned Williams a nod in 1982 in the Best Original Score category, but also did not win that year.
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
In 1983, earning Williams his fourth Oscar win, again in the Best Original Score category, was his iconic score to Spielberg’s science fiction adventure.
“IF WE WERE IN LOVE”
That same year, Williams was also nominated in the Best Original Song category for “If We Were in Love” from the soundtrack to the musical comedy, Yes, Georgio.
RETURN OF THE JEDI
In 1984, Williams was nominated again in the Best Original Score category for the third installment of the Star Wars franchise, but it again did not win.
TEMPLE OF DOOM
Williams was again nominated twice in the Best Original Score category in 1985 for Spielberg’s second installment of the Indiana Jones franchise, but the soundtrack also did not win.
THE RIVER
Williams was also nominated that year for the soundtrack for his soundtrack to this dramatic film about farmers surviving floods starring Sissy Spacek, Mel Gibson, and Scott Glenn.
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
In 1988, Williams was again twice nominated in the Best Original Score category, this time for Spielberg’s coming-of-age drama set in Word War II.
THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK
Williams was also nominated that year for his soundtrack to the dark fantasy-comedy starring Jack Nicholson and Cher.
THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST
Williams was nominated in 1989 in the Best Original Score category for his soundtrack to this romantic drama starring William Hurt as Macon Leary.
BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
In 1990, Williams was nominated for this anti-war drama starring Tom Cruise, directed by Oliver Stone, and written by fellow Long Island native Ron Kovic.
INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE
The third installment of Spielberg’s Indiana Jones saga again got Williams nominated in the Best Original Score category.
HOME ALONE
In 1990, another one of Williams’ biggest earworms was nominated for Best Original Score with the soundtrack to Home Alone, the Macaulay Culkin movie about a kid who fights two attempted burglars.
“SOMEWHERE IN MY MEMORY”
One song from the Home Alone soundtrack, “Somewhere in My Memory,” was also nominated for Best Original Song that year, but neither nominee won.
JFK
Williams was again twice nominated, this time in 1992. The first was in the Best Original Score category for the soundtrack to JFK, the Oliver Stone film about former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
“WHEN YOU’RE ALONE”
That year Williams was also nominated for “When You’re Alone,” a song from the soundtrack for Hook, Spielberg’s spin on Peter Pan starring Robin Williams.
SCHINDLER’S LIST
Williams’ most recent Oscar win came in 1994 for his soundtrack to Spielberg’s Holocaust film that won in the Best Original Score category. It features an original score features violinist Itzhak Perlman, who lives in the Hamptons.
“MOONLIGHT”
In 1996, Williams was also nominated in the Best Original Song category for this song from the soundtrack for the rom-com remake Sabrina. It was one of his three nominations that year.
SABRINA
The entire soundtrack to Sabrina also earned Williams a nomination in the Best Original Musical or Comedy Score category.
NIXON
That same year, Williams was also nominated in the Best Original Dramatic Score category for the soundtrack to Oliver Stone’s historical drama about former President Richard Nixon’s resignation.
SLEEPERS
In 1997, Williams was again nominated in the Best Original Dramatic Score category for the soundtrack to this crime drama starring Brad Pitt, Kevin Bacon and Robert DeNiro.
AMISTAD
In 1998, Williams was once again nominated in the Best Original Dramatic Score category for the soundtrack to Spielberg’s historical drama about a slave ship mutiny that ended off the coast of Montauk and proved pivotal in the abolitionist movement.
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
In 1999, Williams was yet again nominated in the Best Original Dramatic Score category for the soundtrack to Spielberg’s epic World War II drama about a group of soldiers who go on a mission to extricate a soldier whose brothers were all killed in combat.
ANGELA’S ASHES
In 2000, Williams was nominated in the Best Original Score category for the soundtrack to this movie based on the Frank McCourt memoir.
THE PATRIOT
In 2001, Williams was nominated in the Best Original Score category for the soundtrack to this Revolutionary War drama starring Mel Gibson.
A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
In 2002, Williams was twice nominated in the Best Original Score category. The first was for his soundtrack to Spielberg’s science fiction movie about a robotic boy.
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE
Williams was also nominated that year for the soundtrack to the first installment of the Harry Potter movie franchise.
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
In 2003, Williams was nominated for his jazzy soundtrack to Spielberg’s crime comedy drama starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
In 2005, this installment of the Harry Potter series got Williams another nod, but did not win.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
In 2006, Williams was again twice nominated. The first was for this movie about a young Japanese girl who is sold by her impoverished family to a geisha house.
MUNICH
That same year, Williams was nominated for his soundtrack to Spielberg’s spy drama about the Israeli government’s retaliation against the Palestine Liberation Organization after the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
In 2012, Williams was once again twice nominated. The first was for his soundtrack for Spielberg’s animated film based on a comic book series.
WAR HORSE
Williams’ second nomination that year was also for a Spielberg movie, this one a World War I drama.
LINCOLN
In 2013, Williams was nominated for scoring Spielberg’s historical drama about President Abraham Lincoln starring Daniel Day-Lewis.
THE BOOK THIEF
In 2014, Williams was nominated for his soundtrack for this film about a girl living with her adoptive German family during World War II.
THE FORCE AWAKENS
In 2016, after a run of Spielberg movie nominations, Williams got his first nod in years for a Lucas film. Interesting, it was for the first sequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as opposed to the prequels, which.
earned zero nods.
THE LAST JEDI
In 2018, the second installment of the Star Wars sequels also earned a nomination, but did not win.
THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
In 2020, the final installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy also got a nod.
THE FABELMANS
Spielberg’s semiautobiographical film is Williams’ most recent nomination, with winners to be announced Sunday night.
