The OFFICIAL 6-degrees of separation game.

[Hlao-roo 389]

Archival footage of Honus Wagner appears in the HBO documentary When It Was a Game, which also features some narration from the late Roy Scheider, whom many remember fondly for his role in Jaws, the film that propelled John Williams to stardom.

Next: John Tesh

[Ollie 1,059]

Married to Connie Selleca who starred with James Brolin in the TV series Hotel who starred in Catch Me If You Can.

Next: Jamie Lee Curtis

[Marian Schedenig 8,158]

Jamie Lee Curtis starred in A Fish Called Wanda. On the Du Prez score for that film, John Williams played the guitar.

[Hlao-roo 389]

Jamie Lee Curtis starred in A Fish Called Wanda. On the Du Prez score for that film, John Williams played the guitar.

Heh. Uh... John Williams played John Williams's theme from Schindler's List on John Williams Plays the Movies.

Next: Monica Seles

[indy4 155]

She was once on Oprah, as was Tom Cruise, who acted in Minority Report, Born on the Fourth of July, War of the Worlds, and Far And Away.

Next: Tim Burton

[Ollie 1,059]

Directed Batman which also starred William Hootkins who played Porkins in Star Wars. Or you could go with Billy Dee Williams, Jack Nicholson.

Next: Kasey Kasem

[indy4 155]

Was the aunnoncer for NBC Mornings, which JW wrote theme for the Olympics, NBC News, and Sunday Night Football.

Next: Alan Menken

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Wrote the music for Pocahontas and Beauty and the Beast, both of which Willams performed with the LSO on The Hollywood Sound compilation.

Next: Oprah

[Red 75]

Was in The Color Purple, directed by Steven Spielberg, who has kept Williams working for over 20 years.

Next: Sean "P Diddy" Combs

[Neimoidian 14]

Was in The Color Purple, directed by Steven Spielberg, who has kept Williams working for over 20 years.

Next: Sean "P Diddy" Combs

He appeared in Monster's Ball next to Heath Ledger, who starred in The Patriot.

Next: Elijah Wood

[Marian Schedenig 8,158]

Elijah Wood was in Back to the Future 2, which was produced by Spielberg...

Elijah Wood also was in The Lord of the Rings, which starred:

- Miranda Otto, also in War of the Worlds

- Andy Serkis, soon to be in the Tintin movies

- Christopher Lee, who played Dracula, a different version of which was scored by Williams

- Cate Blanchett, star of Indy 4

- John Rhys-Davies ("bad dates")

- Hugo Weaving, who starred in the Matrix trilogy, scored by Don Davis who Williams recommended as composer for JP3

- Bernard Hill, also in Titanic, which Williams reportedly was supposed to score

- Viggo Mortensen, also in Carlito's Way by Brian De Palma, for whom Williams scored The Fury

- John Noble, also in 24 with William Devane, who was in Family Plot

- Dominic Monaghan, in Lost, scored by Giacchino, who is the next John Williams

- Brad Dourif, who was in Dune with a score by Toto, whose lead singer for a while was Joseph Williams

- Sean Bean, also in Stormy Monday together with Sting, who was in Dune (see above) and also performed Williams' song for Sabrina

- Ian Holm, starred in Henry V and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, directed by Kenneth Branagh who was in the Williams-scored Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (and scored by Patrick Doyle, who Williams replaced on Stepmom)

- Ian McKellen, who was in X-Men together with Patrick Stewart, also in Dune (see above)

- Sean Astin, son of John Astin, who was in The Frighteners along with Michael J. Fox (see above for BTTF)

- Orlando Bloom, also in Pirates of the Carribean, originally supposed to be scored by Silvestri, who scored BTTF (see above)

...and many more

Next: Michael Curtiz

[AI 0]

Nice answer.

[MissPadmé 17]

Michael Curtiz was the Director of Casablanca which starred Humphrey Bogart

who starred in the Movie called "Sabrina"

which was remade 1995 and Johnny wrote the score to it

next: Andre Braugher

[Neimoidian 14]

next: Andre Braugher

He was in Petersen's Poseidon, which was a remake of Poseidon's Adventure scored by JW.

Next: Quentin Tarantino

[indy4 155]

He directed an episode of ER, which was created by Michael Crichton, the author of Jurassic Park and The Lost World.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Who's next, Indy4?

[Marian Schedenig 8,158]

indy4 is scored by Williams.

Next: Douglas Hofstadter

[Ollie 1,059]

next: Andre Braugher

He was in Petersen's Poseidon, which was a remake of Poseidon's Adventure scored by JW.

Actually you should have went with Richard Dreyfuss who was in the remake and starred in CE3K, Jaws and Always, scored by JW.

I thought the object of this game was to link actors/directors that actually worked on a JW scored film/TV show.

Not by name association like a remake

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Mark is correct.

[MissPadmé 17]

indy4 is scored by Williams.

Next: Douglas Hofstadter

Douglas Hofstaedter starred in Achieving the Unachievable

directed by Jean Bergeron who also directed Ultimate G's

which starred Michael Cera who once appeared in "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno"

as John Williams did 2006

next one: Jim Byrnes (I)

acha... ok well just read the posts above.. I guess that doesn't count then...

[Humpty Dumpty 0]

Erich Wolfgang Korngold scored The Sea Hawk, which featured Claude Rains, who appeared in Lawrence of Arabia with Peter O'Toole, who appeared in Goodbye Mr. Chips which featured music adapted and conducted by John Williams.

Next: Mako

(edit: I just realised that there's a blindingly obvious answer to this one.)

(edit no.2: Actually, two blindingly obvious answers.)

George Korngold, Erich's son, was John Williams' record producer on a number of recordings. Was that one of the obvious answers? If so, what's the other one?

[Marian Schedenig 8,158]

I thought the object of this game was to link actors/directors that actually worked on a JW scored film/TV show.

Not by name association like a remake

Isn't a remake a remake because it's based on the same source, by the same person?

I see what you mean though. In most cases this is way too easy anyway - Williams alone has directly worked with about one third of Hollywood now I'd estimate.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Actually he has not. He probably has not worked or even met with the vast majority of actors in the films he scored.

[Marian Schedenig 8,158]

That's not what I meant by "directly".

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I don't see how "directly" could have any other meaning?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Nicholas Cage.

[Ollie 1,059]

Nicholas Cage starred in The Rock with Sean Connery who was in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.

George Lazenby

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Nicholas Cage starred in Peggy Sue Got Married, directed by Francis Ford Copolla, who directed Tucker: A Man And His Dreams, produced by George Lucas, who directed Star Wars.

Selma Hayek.

[Ollie 1,059]

I beat you with a shorter route.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

A more boring one, you mean!

[Ollie 1,059]

I thought the idea was to get there really quick.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

The challenge should be to get there in the most convoluted way.

[Marian Schedenig 8,158]

It's not the travelling salesman problem.

[indy4 155]

George Lazenby was in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, created by Hitchcock, who directed Family Plot.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

indy4, you're supposed to add another name after you solve the previous one!

[indy4 155]

Dammit, I always forget to do that.

Next: STEPHEN SONDHEIM

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Worked with Tim Burton on the film version of Sweeney Todd, which starred Johnny Depp, who was in Pirates alongside Keira Knightley, who played the Queen's decoy in The Phantom Menace.

Next: Andrew Lloyd Webber

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Webber's Phantom Of The Opera was referenced in Family Guy. The show also makes mention of John Williams several times.

Next Up: John Goodman

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Aren't we supposed to be playing the way Mark mentioned above?

I thought the object of this game was to link actors/directors that actually worked on a JW scored film/TV show.

Not by name association like a remake

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Oops, my bad.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's music was used in Match Point, which stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who starred in Alexander with Anthony Hopkins, who starred in Nixon composed by John Williams.

Next Up: John Goodman

[Ollie 1,059]

Starred in Always, scored by Williams.

Selma Hayek

[indy4 155]

Acted in Spy Kids 3, with Ricardo Montalban, who acted in Star Trek II, with William Shatner, who stars in Boston Legal, on which Michael J. Fox guest starred on, who acted in Mars Attacks!, which was directed by Tim Burton, who directed Helena Bonham Carter in Big Fish, who was in Order of the Phoenix, along with Daniel Radcliffe, who was in Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, and Prisoner of Azkaban.

Next: M. Night Shyamalan

[Red 75]

Directed The Sixth Sense starring Haley Joel Osment, who was in Artificial Intelligence.

Next: Meryl Streep

[Wojo 2,453]

Directed The Sixth Sense starring Harley Joel Osment, who was in Artificial Intelligence.

Next: Meryl Streep

Direct route: Meryl Streep is the voice of Blue Mecha in Artificial Intelligence.

Meryl Streep offers a fascinating crossroads.

One degree of separation, and in The River Wild, Meryl Streep's character played the mother of Joseph Mazzello's character, who was in Jurassic Park. But because Streep shared the screen in with Kevin Bacon, the most famous hub of these studies in 6-degrees of separation, bring it out another degree, and Kevin Bacon was in Tremors with Ariana Richards, who played the sister of Joseph Mazello's character in Jurassic Park.

Next:

Gabriel Byrne

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Gabriel Byrne starred in Miller's Crossing with Steve Buscemi, who starred in The Big Lebowski with Julianne Moore, who starred in The Lost World composed by John Williams.

Next Up: Ben Stiller

[Wojo 2,453]

Elijah Wood was in Back to the Future 2, which was produced by Spielberg...

...and many more

Next: Michael Curtiz

Very impressive, Marian! The only reason I'm replying to this is because I looked at the list and thought, who could possibly have been left out of the list. I'm not going to nitpick at any of the looser parallels based on comparing composers, because this is all in fun.

- Sarah McLeod (Rosie Cotton Gamgee) was in We're Here to Help with Peter Elliot, who was in Heavenly Creatures with Melanie Lynskey, who stars in Two and a Half Men with Charlie Sheen, who starred with his father Martin in Wall Street, and Martin Sheen was in Apocalypse Now with Indiana Jones and Han Solo.

- Liv Tyler (say what you will, but they paid her), who was in the music video for the music video for Amazing with Alicia Silverstone, who was in Blast from the Past with Dave Foley, who was on NewsRadio with the late Phil Hartman, who you may remember from such films as Sgt. Bilko with Steve Martin, who was in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with the late John Candy, who was in JFK.

- Karl Urban was in Doom with Richard Brake, who played Joe Chill in Batman Begins with Christian Bale, who starred in Empire of the Sun.

- David Wenham was in 300 with Gerard Butler, who was in The Phantom of the Opera with Minnie Driver, who was in Good Will Hunting with a Robin Williams, who put Pan's lost boys to shame by growing a gray beard.

- Marton Csokas (Celeborn) was uncredited in Episode II as "Geonosian Archduke Poggle the Lesser." That was on Final Jeopardy last night...

[Marian Schedenig 8,158]

I thought about doing more, but was too lazy. I even thought about going the Alicia Silverstone route for Tyler (via Aerosmith).

Gabriel Byrne with Pete Postlethwaite in The Usual Suspects, Postlethwaite in The Lost World.

Edit: Damn, Koray was quicker. But mine is more direct, yay (even though we both end up at TLW)

Next:

Richard Strauss (and since we're talking direct collaborations, the use of a Rosenkavalier waltz in A.I. doesn't count)

Douglas Hofstaedter starred in Achieving the Unachievable

directed by Jean Bergeron who also directed Ultimate G's

which starred Michael Cera who once appeared in "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno"

as John Williams did 2006

Very impressive by the way. I didn't expect anyone to solve this - I didn't even know Hofstaedter was in any movies.

[Wojo 2,453]

I thought about doing more, but was too lazy. I even thought about going the Alicia Silverstone route for Tyler (via Aerosmith).

Gabriel Byrne with Pete Postlethwaite in The Usual Suspects, Postlethwaite in The Lost World.

Edit: Damn, Koray was quicker. But mine is more direct, yay (even though we both end up at TLW)

Next:

Richard Strauss (and since we're talking direct collaborations, the use of a Rosenkavalier waltz in A.I. WOULD NOT count)

Ok, Toy Story 2 (and any of other countless movies to use Also Sprach Zarathustra) doesn't count, after all.

Richard Strauss wrote "Vier letzte Lieder" (the "Four Last Songs ") when he was 84, in 1948. It was first performed posthumously in 1950 by Kirsten Flagstad. Flagstad was became unpopular and was snubbed for Helen Traubel by Arturo Toscanini for the NBC radio broadcasts. Toscanini premiered Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" in 1938 with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. This piece was made extremely popular in Platoon, which was directed by Oliver Stone, who chose Williams for such films as Nixon, JFK, and Born on the Fourth of July.

Next: Peter Lorre

[bruckhorn 105]

Ben Stiller was in Meet the Fockers with Dustin Hoffman, who was in Hook.

Back to Richard Strauss...

[indy4 155]

Peter Lorre guest starred on Checkmate, and several episodes of that show were scored by JW.

Next: Viggo Mortenson