LOS ANGELES:

Variety

Legendary composer John Williams accepted a new award, named after him, “in recognition of his incomparable status as one of the greatest film and television composers of our time,” at Wednesday night’s Film, TV and Visual Media Awards of Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) in Beverly Hills.

The creator of such iconic movie themes as “Jaws,” “E.T.” and the musical signatures of the “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones” and “Harry Potter” franchises had already received the organization’s top honor (the BMI Icon) in 1999, so the performingrights society invented a new one, which the 86-year-old composer said he would “humbly accept, with a little embarrassment but a lot of gratitude.”

Speaking exclusively to Variety before the ceremony, Williams acknowledged that “in the last year or two, awards seem to be coming along,” cracking, “It must have something to do with being so old, they must think now is the time.” Williams became the first composer recipient of the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Honor in 2016. (RTRS)