Name A Living Genius !

[Zaine]

Thought it might be fun, if we name someone who you think is a genius and is still alive. It would be worth saying why you think they are a genius. It can be anyone:

My nomination is John Williams the composer. Just look at some of the films he's being involved in, and Speilberg once said his films wouldn't have been half as successfull without his scores.

Film Scores upto 2005:

* Daddy-O (1958)
* John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1965)
* Valley of the Dolls (1967) Oscar nomination
* A Guide for the Married Man (1967)
* Fitzwilly (1967)
* The Reivers (1969) Oscar nomination
* Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) Oscar nomination
* Storia di una donna (1970) The only Williams' score written for an Italian movie
* Jane Eyre (1970)
* Fiddler on the Roof (1971) Oscar winner
* Images (1972) Oscar nomination
* The Poseidon Adventure (1972) Oscar nomination
* The Cowboys (1972)
* Cinderella Liberty (1973) Oscar nomination
* The Paper Chase (1973)
* Tom Sawyer (1973) Oscar nomination shared with Robert B. Sherman & Richard M. Sherman
* The Towering Inferno (1974) Oscar nomination
* Jaws (1975) Golden Globe, BAFTA & Oscar winner
* Family Plot (1976)
* Midway (1976)
* The Missouri Breaks (1976)
* Black Sunday (1977)
* Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) Oscar, Golden Globe & BAFTA winner
* Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Oscar nomination
* The Fury (1978)
* Superman: The Movie (1978) double Grammy & Oscar nomination
* Dracula (1979)
* Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) double Grammy & Oscar nomination, BAFTA winner
* Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) double Grammy & Oscar nomination
* Monsignor (1982)
* Yes, Giorgio (1982) Oscar nomination
* E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Golden Globe, Oscar & BAFTA winner
* Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) Oscar nomination
* Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) Oscar nomination
* The River (1984) Oscar nomination
* SpaceCamp (1985)
* Empire of the Sun (1987) Oscar nomination, BAFTA winner
* The Witches of Eastwick (1987) Oscar nomination
* The Accidental Tourist (1988) Oscar nomination
* Born on the Fourth of July (1989) Oscar nomination
* Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Oscar nomination
* Stanley & Iris (1990)
* Presumed Innocent (1990)
* Home Alone (1990) double Oscar nominations
* Hook (1991) Grammy & Oscar nominations
* JFK (1991) Oscar nomination
* Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
* Far and Away (1992)
* Jurassic Park (1993)
* Schindler's List (1993) Oscar, Grammy and BAFTA winner
* Nixon (1995) Oscar nomination
* Sabrina (1995) double Oscar nominations
* Sleepers (1996) Oscar nomination
* Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
* Amistad (1997) Grammy & Oscar nominations
* The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
* Stepmom (1998)
* Saving Private Ryan (1998) Golden Globe, Grammy & Oscar nominations
* Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) Grammy nomination
* Angela's Ashes (1999) Grammy & Oscar nomination
* The Patriot (2000) Oscar nomination
* A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001) Grammy & Oscar nominations
* Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) double Grammy & Oscar nomination
* Catch Me If You Can (2002) Oscar nomination
* Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
* Minority Report (2002)
* Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) Grammy nomination
* Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) Grammy & Oscar nominations
* The Terminal (2004)
* Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) double Grammy nominations
* War of the Worlds (2005) Grammy nomination
* Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) Golden Globe, BAFTA and Grammy winner, Oscar nomination
* Munich (2005) Oscar nomination, Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition

Awards:

John Williams has won a total of five Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. He has been nominated for 45 Academy Awards and holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person, having the same number of nominations as Alfred Newman.

Williams has received two Emmy Awards, seven BAFTAs, twenty Grammy Awards, and has been inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. In 2004 he received a Kennedy Center Honor. He also won a Classical Brit award in 2005 for his soundtrack work of the previous year.

Williams's richly thematic and highly popular 1977 score to the first Star Wars film was selected in 2005 by the American Film Institute as the greatest American movie score of all time. His scores for Jaws and E.T. also appeared on the list, at #6 and #14, respectively.

Academy Awards:

* Fiddler on the Roof (1971) (Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score)
* Jaws (1975) (Original Score)
* Star Wars (1977) (Original Score)
* E.T. (1982) (Original Score)
* Schindler's List (1993) (Original Score)

Grammy awards:

* Jaws (1975) (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture)
* Star Wars (1977) (Best Pop Instrumental Performance)
* Main Title from Star Wars (1977) (Best Instrumental Composition)
* Star Wars (1977) (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture)
* Theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978) (Best Instrumental Composition)
* Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978) (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture)
* Main Title Theme from Superman (1979) (Best Instrumental Composition)
* Superman (1979) (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture)
* The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (Best Instrumental Composition)
* The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture)
* Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture)
* Flying (Theme from E.T.) (1982) (Best Instrumental Composition)
* E.T. (1982) (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture)
* Flying (Theme from E.T.) (1982) (Best Arrangement on an Instrumental Recording)
* Olympic Fanfare and Theme (1984) (Best Instrumental Composition)
* Schindler's List (1993) (Instrumental Composition for a Motion Picture or Television)
* Saving Private Ryan (1998) (Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television)
* Theme from Angela's Ashes (2000) (Best Instrumental Composition)
* Memoirs Of A Geisha (2007) (Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media)
* A Prayer For Peace (2007) (Best Instrumental Composition)

Golden Globe Awards:

* Jaws (1975) (Best Original Score)
* Star Wars (1977) (Best Original Score)
* E.T. (1982) (Best Original Score)
* Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) (Best Original Score)

Emmy Awards:

* Heidi (1968) (Outstanding Achievement in Musical Composition)
* Jane Eyre (1971) (Outstanding Achievement in Musical Composition)

* VERY IMPRESSIVE C.V!

[John Henry]

I agree. John Williams is the best.

[krish]

Whilst I admire JW for his body of work .... I prefer the styles of John Barry and the late Jerry Goldsmith; I also prefer Howard Shore's admirable scores for the LOTR trilogy, and Hans Zimmer's built up an impressive set of tunes over the years too.

JW's greatest work, is undoubtedly (IMHO) with Star Wars - and was certainly the best thing about the prequel trilogy. I just find the most of his other scores very middle of the road; and a bit too "feel good" for my liking.

I also prefer Bernard Herrmann's Psycho theme to JW's Jaws theme.


As regards the thread's title .....
I would suggest Richard Dawkins

There are only three true genious' alive today IMO.

Stephen Hawking
Bill Gates
Richard Branson

[Jammyb]

Originally Posted by jakal

There are only three true genious' alive today IMO.

Stephen Hawking
Bill Gates
Richard Branson

Apparently Stephen Hawking isn't particularly highly regarded in his field and there are other less famous people who have contributed far more.

Bill Gates stole the work of others and flogged it as his own and Richard Branson started out stealing records and went from there, both obviously impressive business men, but I wouldn't call either a genious.

edit:
This guy has impressed me recently finding out about him:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1199811/

[dannius]

Pele and Shigeru Miyamoto would both qualify for me, for different reasons.

[Seth Gecko]

Originally Posted by jakal

There are only three true genious' alive today IMO.

Stephen Hawking
Bill Gates
Richard Branson

I beg to differ. It took me 15 minutes to find it but I think you can add another one

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showp...9&postcount=67

Originally Posted by Seth Gecko

I beg to differ. It took me 15 minutes to find it but I think you can add another one

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showp...9&postcount=67

[krish]

Originally Posted by Jammyb

Apparently Stephen Hawking isn't particularly highly regarded in his field and there are other less famous people who have contributed far more.

I believe the fact that he is also religious (Christian) has polarised opinion amongst his peers

Originally Posted by Jammyb

... This guy has impressed me recently finding out about him:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1199811/

... and here he is on the cover of Time Magazine almost 20 years ago (centre left): www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19870831,00.html

Originally Posted by Jammyb

Apparently Stephen Hawking isn't particularly highly regarded in his field and there are other less famous people who have contributed far more.

Bill Gates stole the work of others and flogged it as his own and Richard Branson started out stealing records and went from there, both obviously impressive business men, but I wouldn't call either a genious.

edit:
This guy has impressed me recently finding out about him:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1199811/

All the more reason to call them genius IMO!!!!!

[Mep]

good find Seth...........they move among us!!!

[RMCF]

Any time I hear Hawking chat it seems to be about stuff that can't be proved.

Its all double Dutch to 99.9% of the population. So I don't know if he is a genius or not?

Depends how you define genius. Some people say Mozart was a genius but others don't like his work and prefer other composers.

In the sporting world I would say that Maradona would have fallen into the 'genius' category imho. No-one since has been on a par with him (or even close) and he provided me with so many great memories of football.

[shodan]

Originally Posted by RMCF

Any time I hear Hawking chat it seems to be about stuff that can't be proved.

Its all double Dutch to 99.9% of the population. So I don't know if he is a genius or not?

Depends how you define genius. Some people say Mozart was a genius but others don't like his work and prefer other composers.

In the sporting world I would say that Maradona would have fallen into the 'genius' category imho. No-one since has been on a par with him (or even close) and he provided me with so many great memories of football.

Genious? Complete farse more like!!! (I wanted to put a different word in that is like farce but without the f but I didn't want to get in trouble for swearing)...

[Jammyb]

Originally Posted by krish

I believe the fact that he is also religious (Christian) has polarised opinion amongst his peers...

Hmm I'm not sure hawking is. He's either a bad christian or a cagey atheist, or he just doesn't care either way.

Christians are always very keen claim people like einstein (who certainly wasn't) and hawking when it suits them, them right them off when it doesn't.

Hitler wasn't a vegetarian or an atheist, but he was a good painter I read somewhere

[Mep]

oh no!...don't start that again!!