Ben Burtt
Sound Born: 1948-07-12 Age: 77 Jamesville, New York, USA
Biography
Benjamin "Ben" Burtt, Jr. is a sound designer, film editor, director, screenwriter, and voice actor. He has worked as sound designer on various films, including the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film series, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, WALL-E, and Star Trek. He is responsible for creating many of the iconic sound effects heard in the Star Wars film franchise, including the binary speech of R2-D2, the lightsaber hum, the sound of the blaster guns, and the heavy-breathing sound of Darth Vader, which he made by breathing into a scuba regulator. Burtt has a reputation for popularizing a sound effect dubbed the "Wilhelm scream", which was taken from a character named Wilhelm in the 1953 film The Charge at Feather River.
Movies
WALL·E
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Return of the Jedi
BURN·E
The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk
From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga
Under the Helmet: The Legacy of Boba Fett
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
And the Oscar Goes To...
Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy
R2-D2: Beneath the Dome
When Star Wars Ruled the World
I Am Your Father
From Puppets to Pixels: Digital Characters in 'Episode II'
Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet
Robby the Robot: Engineering a Sci-Fi Icon
Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of
George Lucas: Creating an Empire
Fog City Mavericks
The Force of Sound
