Happy Birthday! John Williams, Legendary Composer, Turns 85 Today

Happy Birthday, John Williams! The legendary composer of Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jaws, and much [...]

Happy Birthday, John Williams! The legendary composer of Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jaws, and much more turns 85 years old today. He's currently in the midst of composing the score for his eight Star Wars movie, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, having returned to the franchise for the prequel trilogy and now the sequel trilogy as well.

The American composer was born in Floral park, New York in 1932, he's been a professional musician since the 1950s. After a successful career in television that included Lost in Space, his career took to new heights by going to new depths in Jaws. That also kicked off a decades-long partnership with Steven Spielberg; he's composed nearly every film score for the celebrated director.

Jaws started a string of hit films with some of the most recognizable musical themes in history. In just the ensuing decade from that film, he'd have Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, two Indiana Jones movies, two more Star Wars films, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The composer's music has touched and colored films like Home Alone, Hook, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, the first three Harry Potter films, Catch Me If You Can, Lincoln, and now into the new tirlogy of Star Wars films.

He has been nominated for fifty Academy Awards and won five, is in the American Classical Music Hall of Fame, has 22 Grammy Awards (on 66 nominations), and his legacy is felt all across the world of film and Television.

So Happy Birthday, John Williams, a living legend, a master maestro, and without whom we'd scarcely believe a man can fly, never know when the Force was being used or the Empire was on the way, or put our hands on the top of our heads in a pool as a kid and gone "DUUUUh-Dun. DUUUUH-Dun."

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Next up from Williams is Star Wars: The Last Jedi, from writer/director Rian Johnson, is in post-production now for a December 15, 2017 release. The film follows-up and continues the story of the next generation of the saga as Rey, Poe, Finn, and Kylo Ren find their place in the galaxy and follow the legacy of Luke Skywalker, Leia, and Han Solo. Daisy Ridley returns to star as Rey, with other returning stars John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Peter Mayhew, Andy Serkis, Anthony Daniels, Lupita Nyong'o Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa. Benicio Del Toro and Laura Dern join the cast in as-yet-unrevealed roles. Excited for the movie? Click the little "fire" icons above to rate it in our anticipation rankings!

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