The movie world had quite the scare last week when it was revealed that legendaryStar WarscomposerJohn Williamshad been hospitalized and had to cancel several performances that were scheduled in London. Fortunately, it looks like Williams is on the mend and is recovering from his illness. Williams will be back stateside in Los Angeles soon. For the time being, it looks like everyone can take a deep breath and let out a massive sigh of relief.
According to a new report, the 86-year-old prolific composer will be heading back to Los Angeles, California next weekafter his stay in a hospital overseas. John Williams is said to be “recovering well” according to record producer Mike Matessino, who was in direct contact with those close to the musician, who is known best for his work on theStar Warsfranchise. While the nature of Williams' illness that put him in the hospital in the first place still hasn’t been disclosed, it sounds like things are trending in the right direction.
Age be damned, John Williams is a man who likes to stay busy. Not only was he scheduled to perform three shows at Royal Albert Hall, but he is still regularly taking on new gigs composing the soundtracks for various movies. Last year alone saw the cinema icon compose the score forThe Last Jedi, Steven Spielberg’sThe Postand the award-winning short,Dear Basketball. Williams is also still on deck to do the score forStar Wars 9andIndiana Jones 5, which has been delayed significantly and won’t shoot until April of next year. This illness may have slowed him down for a beat, but it doesn’t appear as though he’s going to stop just yet.
To date, John Williams has beennominated for a staggering 51 Academy Awardsover the years and has been working in the business for more than six decades. Anyone who loves movies on any level and has ears that work has probably been influenced by him in some way. Outside of theStar Warsfranchise, Williams has composed the score for movies likeE.T.,Jurassic Park,Superman, severalHarry Pottermovies, theIndiana Jonesfranchise and many, many more. To date, Williams has nearly 150 soundtrack credits to his name.
While none of us want to think about it, this illness serves as an unfortunate reminder that John Williams won’t be with us forever. But while he’s here, he’s going to continue doing what he does best. J.J. Abrams is currently filming Star Wars Episode IX and once that’s in the can, Williams will, pending a good bill of health, get to work on the score, rounding out the franchise he’s helped shape for all these years. Williams previously indicated thatthis will be his last Star Wars movieand that, amongst many other reasons, makes it an undoubtedly important one for the franchise. This news was first reported bySoundTrackFest.
