Editing John Williams (section)

=== 1954–1973: Rise to prominence ===
Williams wrote his first film composition in 1952 while stationed at [[Pepperrell Air Force Base]] for a promotional film titled ''You Are Welcome'', created for the [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]] tourist information office.<ref name="SW" /> Williams's first feature film composition was for ''[[Daddy-O (film)|Daddy-O]]'' (1958), and his first screen credit came two years later in ''[[Because They're Young]]''. Williams also composed music for television, ''[[Bachelor Father (American TV series)|Bachelor Father]]'' (1957–59), the ''[[Kraft Suspense Theatre]]'' (1963–65), ''[[Lost in Space]]'' (1965–68), ''[[The Time Tunnel]]'' (1966–67) and ''[[Land of the Giants]]'' (1968-70), the last three created by the prolific producer [[Irwin Allen]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iann.net/giants/|title=Deanna Lund Meets John Williams At Lincoln Party|publisher=Irwin Allen News Network|access-date=December 31, 2015|archive-date=January 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111124919/http://www.iann.net/giants/|url-status=live}}</ref> He also worked on several episodes of ''[[M Squad]]'' (1957-1960) and ''[[Checkmate (American TV series)|Checkmate]]'' (1960–1962) and the pilot episode of ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'' (1964–67).<ref>"Marooned" credits (unaired pilot, October 16, 1962)</ref><ref>RCA Victor PL-45929</ref>

Williams called [[William Wyler]]'s ''[[How to Steal a Million]]'' (1966) "the first film I ever did for a major, super-talent director". Williams received his first [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] nomination for his score for [[Valley of the Dolls (film)|''Valley of the Dolls'']] (1967) and was nominated again for [[Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969 film)|''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'']] (1969). His first Oscar was for [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score]], for [[Fiddler on the Roof (film)|''Fiddler on the Roof'']] (1971). He scored [[Robert Altman]]'s psychological thriller [[Images (film)|''Images'']] (1972) and his [[neo-noir]] [[The Long Goodbye (film)|''The Long Goodbye'']] (1973), based on the [[The Long Goodbye (novel)|novel of the same name]] by [[Raymond Chandler]]. [[Pauline Kael]] wrote that "Altman does variations on Chandler's theme the way the John Williams score does variations the title song, which is tender in one scene, a funeral dirge in another. Williams' music is a parody of the movies' frequent overuse of a theme, and a demonstration of how adaptable a theme can be."<ref>{{cite magazine| last=Kael| first=Pauline| title=Movieland—The Bum's Paradise| date=October 14, 1973| magazine=[[The New Yorker]]| url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1973/10/22/movieland-the-bums-paradise| access-date=November 30, 2023| archive-date=December 8, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208194930/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1973/10/22/movieland-the-bums-paradise| url-status=live}}</ref> Altman, known for giving actors free rein, had a similar approach to Williams, telling him "Do whatever you want. Do something you haven't done before."<ref name="King2023">{{cite news| last=King| first=Darryn| title=John Williams on 'Indiana Jones' and His Favorite Film Scores| date=June 24, 2023| work=[[The New York Times]]| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/24/movies/john-williams-indiana-jones-dial-of-destiny.html| access-date=November 29, 2023| archive-date=November 30, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130161730/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/24/movies/john-williams-indiana-jones-dial-of-destiny.html| url-status=live}}</ref> His prominence grew in the early 1970s thanks to his work for Irwin Allen's [[disaster film]]s; he scored [[The Poseidon Adventure (1972 film)|''The Poseidon Adventure'']] (1972), ''[[The Towering Inferno]]'' and [[Earthquake (1974 film)|''Earthquake'']] (both 1974). Williams named his ''Images'' score as a favorite; he recalls "the score used all kinds of effects for piano, percussion, and strings. It had a debt to [[Edgard Varèse|Varèse]], whose music enormously interested me. If I had never written film scores, if I had proceeded writing concert music, it might have been in this vein. I think I would have enjoyed it. I might even have been fairly good at it. But my path didn't go that way."{{Sfn|Ross|2020}} As it happened, Williams's scores for [[The Reivers (film)|''The Reivers'']] (1969) and ''[[The Cowboys]]'' (1972) shaped the path his career went.