Waldon O. Watson

Waldon O. Watson (born January 20, 1907 - August 15, 1986 in Fullerton , California ) was an American sound engineer .

biography

Watson began working in the Hollywood film industry in 1948 as a sound engineer producing the film Adventures of Frank and Jesse James and has worked on over 140 film productions during his career . In 1959 he succeeded Leslie I. Carey as supervisor for sound engineering at Universal Studios .

At the Academy Awards in 1962 he was nominated for the Oscar for the best tone for the first time, namely for almond eyes and lotus blossoms (1961). There were further Oscar nominations in the best sound category in 1963 for A Touch of Mink (1963), 1964 for Captain Newman , 1965 for The Big Wolf Calls (1964), 1966 for The Man from the Big River (1965) and most recently for the Academy Awards 1967 for The Girl from the Cherry Bar (1966).

Although Watson was awarded the Oscar in any nomination, he was but three times by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded (AMPAS): With the Academy Awards in 1968 , he received the so-called Oscar for technical merit ( Technical Achievement Award ) as employees of Studio Sound Department (SSD) of Universal Pictures “for new concepts in the design of film music stages ”, 1975 the Oscar for Science and Development ( Scientific and Engineering Award ) together with Richard J. Stumpf and Robert J. Leonard “for the development and implementation of the Sensurround -Systems for showing films ”and most recently at the 1979 Academy Awards with Linwood G. Dunn and Loren L. Ryder the John A. Bonner Medal “ in recognition of outstanding service and appreciation for maintaining the high standards of AMPAS ”.

Other well-known films in which he worked as a sound engineer were Psycho (1960), Spartacus (1960), Wer die Nachtigal (1962) and The Birds (1963). During his career, Watson worked with well-known film directors such as Henry Koster , Delbert Mann , David Miller , Ralph Nelson , Andrew V. McLaglen , Ronald Neame , Alfred Hitchcock , Stanley Kubrick and Robert Mulligan .