Star Wars’ John Williams Now Has Something In Common With Luke Skywalker
John Williams has been given one of the final honorary knighthoods from the former Queen of England.
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Legendary composer, John Williams, now has something more in common with one of the biggest actors from Star Wars. Just like Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Williams has now been given an honorary knighthood from the Queen of England. In fact, Williams is one of the last people to receive this huge honor before Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8th.
While an honorary knighthood is certainly a huge honor, given that John Williams is from the United States, he cannot be referred to as “Sir.” That designation is only for those who are born in the United Kingdom. Still, John Williams has been given this massive honor for his contributions made possible by his involvement in composing and Star Wars. Williams used London as the location for his recording of both the soundtracks to Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars: A New Hope.
John Williams also conducted The London Symphony Orchestra when recording the soundtrack for Star Wars: A New Hope. This has led to the man being recognized by the British monarchy as making incredible contributions to the United Kingdom. Williams joins fellow Indiana Jones creator, Steven Spielberg, in being knighted by the former Queen of England.
John Williams now joins a short list of 27 people from the United States who have been knighted by the former Queen of England during her reign. Williams and former CEO of Disney, Bob Iger, or two of the last to receive an honorary knighthood. This honor comes on the heels of Williams retiring as a film composer.
The long-time composer recently spoke about his involvement with recording the score for Indiana Jones 5 and stated that it could be his final movie, along with the rumor that Harrison Ford might also be retiring. We do know that Ford is going to be starring in the new Yellowstone 1923 spinoff series, but he could be done with big theatrical movies now. It is a bit sad that John Williams will not be part of the future Star Wars entries, of which there are many coming out.
One of the final John Williams Star Wars moments came in the recently released Obi-Wan Kenobi series, which saw Williams compose the theme for Obi-Wan. There truly isn’t anyone greater at composing Star Wars than Williams, and we hope that he enjoys his retirement, should it be true that he is meant to step away. His contributions to the franchise and cinema, in general, have made him recognized by the former Queen of England, which is an honor he truly deserves.
John Williams might be contemplating retirement from Star Wars and scoring movies, but the man still has plans to work on his own original music for the foreseeable future. At 90 years old, the man is still doing what he loves, and we commend him for that. His dedication to the craft of composition has led the man to be recognized as the most important composer in American history and led to his well-deserved honorary knighthood.
