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Patrick Williams, 1939-2018
Composer, arranger and conductor Patrick Williams died in Santa Monica, California, on July 25, 2018, at the age of 79, from complications of cancer.
One of the most versatile American screen composers of his generation, Williams scored nearly 50 feature films and an enormous body of television while maintaining a parallel career in jazz and concert music. He received an Academy Award nomination, won four Emmy Awards and two Grammys, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in music.
Patrick Moody Williams was born in Bonne Terre, Missouri, on April 23, 1939, and grew up in Connecticut. A trumpeter and enthusiastic jazz musician, he led his own band while still in school before studying history at Duke University, where he directed the Duke Ambassadors jazz ensemble. After graduating in 1961 he moved to New York, studied composition and conducting at Columbia University, and began working as an arranger and writer of advertising jingles.
Encouraged by Henry Mancini, Williams moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s and quickly established himself in film and television. His early feature assignments included How Sweet It Is! (1968), followed during the 1970s by films such as Casey’s Shadow (1978), Richard Lester’s Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979) and Cuba (1979). His music drew naturally on jazz, big-band writing and the classical orchestral tradition, allowing him to move comfortably between comedy, romance and drama. Read more…
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