Other memorable collaborations with Spielberg include Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the Indiana Jones franchise (1981–2023), Hook (1991), Jurassic Park (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Catch Me If You Can (2002), War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012), and The Fabelmans (2022).

[13] In 2022, Williams was appointed an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II, "for services to film music".

Williams worked with such composers as Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann and Alfred Newman, and with fellow orchestrators Conrad Salinger and Bob Franklyn.

One of his first jobs was working under mentor Alfred Newman with an uncredited role in the orchestra for the 1956 film Carousel, which also coincidently starred his soon-to-be wife Barbara Ruick.

Williams was also the pianist on the scores of Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960) Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise's West Side Story (1961), and Blake Edwards The Great Race (1966).

Williams also composed music for television, 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.

"[34] His prominence grew in the early 1970s thanks to his work for Irwin Allen's disaster films; he scored The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Towering Inferno and Earthquake (both 1974).

Williams recalled, "I met what looked to be this seventeen-year-old kid, this very sweet boy, who knew more about film music than I did—every Max Steiner and Dimitri Tiomkin score.

Darryn King writes that "One moment in that film captures some of Spielberg and Williams's alchemy: the musical dialogue between the humans and the otherworldly visitors, itself an artistic collaboration of sorts."

Schindler's List (1993) proved to be a challenge for Williams; after viewing the rough cut with Spielberg, he was so overcome with emotion that he was hesitant to score the film.

A. O. Scott argued that the movie represented new directions for director and composer, writing that Spielberg created "a mood as layered, dissonant and strange as John Williams's unusually restrained, modernist score".

The former was his first score for an animated film, and he employed various styles, including "1920s, 1930s European jazz" for the opening credits and "pirate music" for the maritime battles.

Williams delivered a grand symphonic score influenced by Gustav Holst's orchestral suite The Planets, as well as Richard Strauss, Antonín Dvořák, and Golden Age Hollywood composers Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

The original Star Wars trilogy concluded with Return of the Jedi, for which Williams provided the "Emperor's Theme", "Parade of the Ewoks", and "Luke and Leia".

He also contributed the Oscar and Golden Globe nominated song "If We Were in Love" (with lyrics by Alan & Marilyn Bergman) to Franklin J. Schaffner's Yes, Giorgio (1982).

Kael called Williams "a major collaborator" on the film, writing that he had "composed what may be as apt and delicately varied a score as any horror movie has ever had.

The main march is set to return as part of John Murphy's score to James Gunn's Superman (2025), the first film of the DC Universe.

In his Oscar-nominated score for Lawrence Kasdan's The Accidental Tourist (1988),[96] Williams developed the two main theme sections in different ways, turning the mood lighter or darker through orchestration and an unexpected use of synthesizers.

Additional films Williams scored during this period include Harry Winer's SpaceCamp (1986), Alan J. Pakula's Presumed Innocent (1990), Ron Howard's Far and Away (1992), Sydney Pollack's Sabrina (1995), Barry Levinson's Sleepers (1996), John Singleton's Rosewood and Jean-Jacques Annaud's Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Alan Parker's Angela's Ashes (1999), Roland Emmerich's The Patriot (2000) and Rob Marshall's Memoirs of a Geisha (2005).

He initially cited mounting conflicts with his film composing schedule but later admitted a perceived lack of discipline in, and respect from, the Pops' ranks, culminating in this latest instance.

The initial program was intended to be a one-time special event, and featured Williams's medley of Oscar-winning film scores first performed at the previous year's Academy Awards.

[125] After over a ten year break, Williams returned to New York in 2022 to conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra for a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall, with special guest violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.

[128] Williams also conducted the National Symphony Orchestra, the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets, the Joint Armed Forces Chorus, and the Choral Arts Society of Washington in his new arrangement of "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the anthem's 200th anniversary.

[129] On April 13, 2017, at Star Wars Celebration Orlando, Williams performed a surprise concert[130] with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra featuring "Princess Leia's Theme" (a tribute to the recently deceased Carrie Fisher), "The Imperial March" and "Main Title", followed by George Lucas saying, "The secret sauce of Star Wars, the greatest composer-conductor in the universe, John Williams".

[137] Williams made a surprise appearance at the U.S. premiere of the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) on June 15, where he conducted themes with a live symphony orchestra.

Williams has won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for his scores for Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, The Empire Strikes Back, E.T.

[159] In 2009, Williams received the National Medal of Arts in the White House in Washington, D.C., for his achievements in symphonic music for films, and "as a pre-eminent composer and conductor [whose] scores have defined and inspired modern movie-going for decades".

[165] He additionally received a President's Medal award from The Juilliard School and announced during the ceremony that he intended to bequeath his entire library of concert and film music scores, as well as his sketchbooks, to the college.

[168] In 2020, Williams received the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society[169] as well as the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts (jointly with Ennio Morricone).

[171][172] In 2024, Williams was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters (jointly with Terence Blanchard)[173] and received the Disney Legends award at the Honda Center in August of the same year.