Linwood Gale Dunn Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018
Linwood G. Dunn, A.S.C. (December 27, 1904, Brooklyn, New York – May 20, 1998, Los Angeles) was a pioneer of visual special effects in motion pictures and inventor of related technology. Dunn worked on many films and TV series including the original 1933 King Kong (1933), Citizen Kane (1941), and Star Trek (1966–69).
Visual Effects, Special Effects, Camera Department
Star Sign
Capricorn
#
Fact
1
Had been a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) since 1950. Served as President from 1977 to 1988.
2
Avid inventor, was working to develop 3D system for American television, up until his death.
3
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, (SMPTE). Active member.
4
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has named a theater after him. The Linwood Dunn Theatre is part of the Pickford Center located at 1313 North Vine Street in Hollywood.
5
In the early 1970s, he consented to a live television interview in a city where he was about to give one of his lectures. It became apparent that the interviewer thought that "special effects" meant "sound effects."
6
He shot the famous RKO Radio Pictures logo.
7
In the final weeks of his life, he was at work on a digital system for exhibition.
8
In 1985, he sold his company, Film Effects of Hollywood, and "retired." He continued to give lectures and serve as a consultant on domestic and international productions.
9
When RKO ended production, he expanded his own company, Film Effects of Hollywood, by leasing RKO's special effects department. This enabled him to provided even greater special effects services to other producers.
10
In the first year of World War II, as the leading expert on optical printing, Eastman Kodak approached him about the need for optical printers in the photographic units of the armed forces. Together with his associate Cecil Love, he designed an optical printer that was built by the Acme Tool and Manufacturing Company of Burbank. This became the Acme-Dunn Optical Printer, the first commercially available optical printer.
11
During the Great Depression, Pathe failed and went into receivership. Dunn supported himself by working as a musician and in the reduced position as a camera operator. He received a short-term assignment at the Photographic Effects Department at a new studio, RKO Radio. This job, which was intended to last for less than a week, became a career and he remained with the company until it ceased production in 1957. At RKO he became the head of the Optical Effects Department and later the entire Special Effects Department.
12
In the 1970s he bacame a noted lecturer on his career. One of his gigs included a presentation at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
13
As the head of RKO's Optical Effects Department, and then head of the entire Special Effects Department, he worked on virtually all RKO-produced films, usually without on-screen credit.
14
He was assigned by RKO to teach a novice director named Orson Welles about the optical printer. The more that Welles learned about his capabilities with the device, the more changes he demanded for shots that had already been filmed for Citizen Kane (1941).
15
He built one of the first optical printers using a Mitchell camera and a projector mounted on a heavy lathe bed.
16
He developed and built one of the first zoom lenses.
He was a member of the American Society of Cinematographers. For a quarter of a century he was on the society's board of directors. He also served stints as the treasurer and even their president.
19
In 1946, while still at RKO, he established his own independent special effects company, Film Effects of Hollywood. The company specialized in optical effects and optical printing services. including adapting foreign film standards to U.S. standards and the handling of large format films.
20
He was regarded as the master of the optical printer. He made refinements to the optical printer and developed techniques for its use in special visual effects.
21
His uncle was noted serial director Spencer Gordon Bennet. He hired Dunn as an assistant cameraman on The Green Archer (1940). When Pathe moved its serial unit to Hollywood, both Bennet and Dunn made the move.
22
His first job in the industry was a projectionist for the American Motion Picture Corporation in New York in 1923.
23
He became a founding member of the International Photographer's Guild in 1928.
24
He became a second cameraman on Hawk of the Hills (1927). It was his job to shoot the negatives used for the foreign versions. His duties expanded to aerial cameraman and various special effects camera techniques.
Visual Effects
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Truth About Murder
1946
special optical effects - uncredited
Wanderer of the Wasteland
1945
special optical effects - uncredited
Girl Rush
1944
special photographic effects - uncredited
Cat People
1942
photographic effects - uncredited
Citizen Kane
1941
optical effects - uncredited
She
1935
optical effects - uncredited
Kentucky Kernels
1934
optical effects - uncredited
King Kong
1933
optical photographer - uncredited
The Most Dangerous Game
1932
optical effects - uncredited
The Devil's Rain
1975
special photographic effects
Is It Always Right to Be Right?
1970
Short special effects - as Lin Dunn
Darling Lili
1970
special photographic effects
Airport
1970
special photographic effects - uncredited
2001: A Space Odyssey
1968
background plates - uncredited
Hawaii
1966
special photographic effects
The Bible: In the Beginning...
1966
special optical effects: Film Effects of Hollywood - as Linwood Dunn
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?
1966
photographic effects - as Linwood Dunn
The Great Race
1965
photographic effects - as Linwood Dunn
Circus World
1964
consultant: special photographic effects - uncredited
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
1963
photographic effects
Shock Corridor
1963
special optical effects - as Lynn Dunn
West Side Story
1961
photographic effects - as Linwood Dunn
I Married a Woman
1958
special photographic effects - as Linwood Dunn
Forty Guns
1957
optical effects - as Linwood Dunn
China Gate
1957
special photographic effects - as Linwood Dunn
The Conqueror
1956
photographic effects - as Linwood Dunn
The Sea Around Us
1953
Documentary photographic effects - as Linwood Dunn
Androcles and the Lion
1952
special photographic effects - as Linwood Dunn
One Minute to Zero
1952
special photographic effects - as Linwood Dunn
The Thing from Another World
1951
special photographic effects - as Linwood Dunn
Mighty Joe Young
1949
optical photography - as Linwood Dunn
Out of the Past
1947
optical effects - uncredited
Till the End of Time
1946
optical effects - uncredited
Without Reservations
1946
transparency projection shots - uncredited
Heartbeat
1946
optical effects - uncredited
The Falcon's Alibi
1946
optical effects - uncredited
Badman's Territory
1946
optical effects - uncredited
Special Effects
Title
Year
Status
Character
Star Trek
1966
TV Series special effects
Sister Kenny
1946
optical effects - uncredited
The Falcon in San Francisco
1945
special effects - uncredited
Two O'Clock Courage
1945
special effects - uncredited
The Enchanted Cottage
1945
special effects - uncredited
The Falcon in Hollywood
1944
special effects - uncredited
Melody Cruise
1933
special effects - as Lynn Dunn
The Monkey's Paw
1933
special effects
Camera Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
West Side Story
1961
title photographer - uncredited
The Son of Kong
1933
camera operator - uncredited
Cimarron
1931
camera crew member: land rush scenes - uncredited
Danger Lights
1930
assistant camera - uncredited
The Case of Sergeant Grischa
1930
assistant camera - uncredited
Flight
1929
assistant camera - uncredited
Cinematographer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Queen of the Northwoods
1929
Snowed In
1926
The Green Archer
1925
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Visions of Light
1992
Documentary member: ASC Education Committee
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Visions of Light
1992
Documentary special thanks: AFI
Spaced Invaders
1990
special thanks
Hollywood the Golden Years: The RKO Story
1987
TV Series documentary thanks - 1 episode
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Lights, Camera, Action!: A Century of the Cinema
1996
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself
King Kong 60th Anniversary Special: 'It Was Beauty Killed the Beast'
1992
Video documentary short
Himself (as Linwood Dunn)
The Complete Citizen Kane
1991
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Something a Little Less Serious: A Tribute to 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World'
1991
TV Movie documentary
Himself (matte painter) (as Linwood Dunn)
Hollywood the Golden Years: The RKO Story
1987
TV Series documentary
Himself
The Moviemakers
1985
TV Series
Himself
The 57th Annual Academy Awards
1985
TV Special documentary
Himself - Winner: Gordon E. Sawyer Award
Film Reality and Film Fantasy
1975
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
The 71st Annual Academy Awards
1999
TV Special
Himself - Memorial Tribute
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1998
Honorary Membership
Visual Effects Society Awards
1990
President's Award
American Society of Cinematographers, USA
1985
Gordon E. Sawyer Award
Academy Awards, USA
1981
Academy Award of Merit
Academy Awards, USA
1979
Medal of Commendation
Academy Awards, USA
1945
Technical Achievement Award
Academy Awards, USA
Nominated Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1967
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Effects, Special Visual Effects
Hawaii (1966)
1967
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Individual Achievements in Cinematography - Photographic Special Effects
Star Trek (1966)
Known for movies
West Side Story (1961) as Visual Effects
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) as Visual Effects
The Great Race (1965) as Visual Effects
The Thing from Another World (1951) as Visual Effects
$800,000
