Paul K. Lerpae

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Paul K. Lerpae (* 7. April 1900 in Mexico City , Mexico ; † 5. October 1989 in Palm Springs , California ) was a Mexican - American film technology pioneer and special effects artist , who in 1945 with the Oscar for technical merit ( Technical Achievement Award ) was excellent, and in 1948 an Oscar nomination in the category "Best special effects" for the Western the Undefeated and 1951 for the epic film Samson and Delilah received.

Life

Lerpae was a highly qualified specialist in the field of special effects, but was somewhat overshadowed by Gordon Jennings , under whose direction he initially appeared in several films by director Cecil B. DeMille , such as Union Pacific (1939), Pirates in the Caribbean Sea ( 1942), Dr. Wassells Escape from Java (1944) and The Undefeated was active. For the latter film, Lerpae and Jennings were nominated for an Oscar in 1948 along with their colleagues Devereaux Jennings , Farciot Edouart , W. Wallace Kelley and George Dutton . However, the award went to A. Arnold Gillespie , Warren Newcombe , Douglas Shearer and Michael Steinore and the drama Typhoon .

In the monumental film Samson and Delilah by DeMille, Lerpae again worked with Jennings, as well as with Dorothy Lamour , who played the female lead, and with Lerpae as early as 1939 in the literary adaptation Pirates in Alaska , in 1940 and 1941 in the adventure adaptations The Hell of the South Seas and Aloma, the daughter of the South Seas , had worked together in 1945 in the drama A Medal for Benny and in the comedies Der Weg nach Utopia (1945), Der Weg nach Rio (1947) and Der Weg nach Bali (1952). For Samson and Delilah , Lerpae and Gordon and Devereaux Jennings were nominated again for an Oscar in 1951 , but had to give priority to Lee Zavitz and the science fiction film Endstation Mond .

Also in the critical and public very esteemed film version of the first big alien invasion movies War of the Worlds from 1953, based on the novel The War of the Worlds by HG Wells , Lerpae worked in the team of Jennings, who with his power Oscar was awarded. The spectacular flying saucers and their attack on the earth can be traced back to a large extent to the work of Lerpae and Byron Haskin . In the 1955 science fiction film The Conquest of the Universe , Lerpae and Haskin worked together again. Lerpae was also involved in the 1956 monumental film The Ten Commandments by DeMille, which was long considered one of Paramount Pictures' most expensive films with a production cost of 13 million US dollars , as well as the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo - Aus dem Reich of the dead with James Stewart and Kim Novak . In 1963 he was involved in the western drama The Wildest Among Thousands by Martin Ritt with Paul Newman .

As a new generation of technicians and engineers slowly established themselves in Hollywood, Lerpae put his art at the service of comedies, where the tricks had to be less spectacular than in his earlier work. He worked in several films with Jerry Lewis and contributed in his films to effects that are remembered. He made his last film work A Strange Couple in 1968 for a comedy film by the comedian duo Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau .

Lerpae was not only nominated for an Oscar in 1948, but also received the Technical Award for a hiking mask he had developed ("for the design and construction of the Paramount traveling matte projection and photographing device") at the 1945 Academy Awards .

Filmography (selection)

( in films marked with * as Paul Lerpae )

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Biography of Paul K. Lerpae at thebiography.us (English), accessed on February 17, 2016.
  2. ↑ The 20th Academy Awards | 1948 at oscars.org (English)
personal data
SURNAME Lerpae, Paul K.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mexican-American film technology pioneer and special effects artist
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Mexico City , Mexico
DATE OF DEATH 5th October 1989
Place of death Palm Springs , California , United States