Ben Burtt

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Template:2008spoiler Benjamin Burtt, Jr. (born 12 July 1948; age 75), known simply as Ben Burtt, is an American four-time Academy Award-winning sound designer and sound editor who worked on 2009's Star Trek. [1] He has worked on many hit films since the mid-1970s, the majority of which are collaborations with filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Speilberg. Of all his projects, however, he is perhaps best known for his sound work in Lucas' six Star Wars films.

Burtt was born in Jamesville, New York, and earned a college degree in Physics from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. In 1970, he won the National Student Film Festival for a short war film called Yankee Squadron. Burtt ultimately won a scholarship from the University of Southern California, where he earned a Master's Degree in Film Production.

Burtt created many of the memorable sound effects heard in the Star Wars films, notably the vocalizations of R2-D2 and other droids, the light saber sounds effects, the speederbike sound effects, Darth Vader's breathing, and Chewbacca's roar. For his work on the first Star Wars in 1977, Burtt received a Special Achievement Award from the Academy Awards.

After Star Wars, Burtt's next film was the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, in which Star Trek: The Original Series star Leonard Nimoy had a supporting role. He then returned to the Star Wars franchise as sound designer and supervising sound effects editor on Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Afterwards, he designed the sound for the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, for which he won a second Special Achievement Award, shared with Star Trek: The Motion Picture supervising sound editor, Richard L. Anderson.

For Steven Spielberg's hit 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Burtt designed the distinctive voice for E.T., which earned him that year's Academy Award for Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing. Burtt subsequently received two Academy Award nominations for Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, a nomination for George Lucas' Willow, and one win and one nomination for Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

External links

• Ben Burtt at Wikipedia
• Template:IMDb-link