The fictional character Superman is an icon of the American culture. The character was originally created in 1933 by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster and sold to Detective Comics (DC Comics) in 1938, subsequently appearing in radio serials, television programs, newspaper strips, video games and movies.

The first major film featuring “the man of steel” was Superman and the Mole Men starring George Reeves released in 1951, It took 27 years before “Superman” returned to the big screen in the 1978 blockbuster starring a relative newcomer Christopher Reeve and directed by Richard Donner.

By 1978, John Williams had already proven himself a magnificent composer and orchestrator. He had studied at Juilliard and the Eastman School of Music and worked with veteran composers Bernard Herrmann, Franz Waxman and Alfred Newman to learn his craft. Prior to composing for films, Williams created music for TV shows such as Gilligan’s Island (for which he created the theme song), Bachelor Father and Lost in Space. He won his first Academy Award for the score of the 1971 film, Fiddler on the Roof, his second for the original score of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, and his third for the iconic Star Wars.

Overall, Williams holds 49 Oscar nominations, one of which was for the score of Superman. Though Williams didn’t compose for all of the sequels in the series, his love theme from the original film, Can You Read My Mind, appeared in four of the successive movies.

In real life Christopher Reeve and John Williams have not only become American icons, but also“supermen.” Reeves has become more recognized as an activist for stem cell research and spinal injuries following his paralysis from a riding accident in 1995 than his achievements as an actor; Williams for his vast array of achievements in musical composition, conducting and scoring in all genres.

In 2003, two years before he died, Reeve appeared in the television series Smallville as Dr. Swann, a scientist who was able to translate the Kryptonian language. In this episode, entitled the Rosetta Stone episode, Dr. Swann educates Clark Kent on his Kryptonian past and how he can use his powers for the good of mankind.

The scene took approximately 12 hours to shoot and tested Reeve’s stamina, but the actor told the director that the time didn’t matter as long as the scene turned out great. The scene features music cues from Reeve’s original 1978 Superman movie composed by John Williams.