Five Oscars is more than most film artists would dream of, but for composer John Williams it seems like kind of a light haul relative to his contributions to the industry. Considering that he’s been nominated 52 times — a success rate of less than 10% — and hasn’t won since Steven Spielberg‘s “Schindler’s List” 29 years ago, he might even be considered overdue for another trophy. He just might get it this year for another Spielberg film, “The Fabelmans.”
Williams is the second most nominated individual in the history of the Oscars, behind Walt Disney with 59. His five wins were Best Score Adaptation/Original Song Score for “Fiddler on the Roof” (1971) and then four for Best Original Score: “Jaws” (1975), “Star Wars” (1977), “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” (1982) and “Schindler’s List” (1993). To put that in perspective, Williams hasn’t won an Oscar since long before “Fabelmans” star Gabriel LaBelle was even born.
Most artists would be the envy of their field if they had five Oscars, but it’s nevertheless unusual that the academy has been so stingy with Williams’s wins in the last 29 years when it has been so generous with nominations. Compare that to the Grammys, where he has won 25 times out of 73 nominations, tying him as the seventh most awarded person in the history of the music kudos.
The good news for Williams is that he made the Oscars shortlist for “The Fabelmans” and is the current front-runner to win, according to the combined predictions of Gold Derby users. He gets leading odds of 39/10 with support from 12 of the Expert journalists we’ve surveyed from major media outlets. It’s a close race, though, with a couple other past winners: Hildur Guðnadóttir (“Women Talking”) and Justin Hurwitz (“Babylon”). Can Williams hold them off to secure his sixth career trophy?
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