Ben Burtt

Ben Burtt

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.

On screen

  • Under the Helmet: The Legacy of Boba Fett
  • Jet Jockeys in Love: The Making of CHAIN LIGHTNING ('50)
  • Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
  • The Force of Sound
  • I Am Your Father
  • And the Oscar Goes To...
  • EditDroid: Rise and Fall
  • The Making of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz
  • Lincoln: An American Journey
  • Wings: Grandeur in the Sky
  • Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of
  • WALL·E
  • WALL·E's Treasures & Trinkets
  • BURN·E
  • Animation Sound Design: Building Worlds from the Sound Up
  • RKO Production 601: The Making of “Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World”
  • Fog City Mavericks
  • Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001
  • Robby the Robot: Engineering a Sci-Fi Icon
  • Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet
  • Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema
  • George Lucas: Creating an Empire
  • Within a Minute: The Making of Star Wars Episode III
  • Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy
  • When Star Wars Ruled the World
  • The Sound of 'Indiana Jones'
  • Films Are Not Released, They Escape
  • State of the Art: The Pre-Visualization of 'Episode II'
  • From Puppets to Pixels: The Making of Star Wars Episode II
  • Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
  • R2-D2: Beneath the Dome
  • Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
  • Star Wars: The Magic & the Mystery
  • The Making of 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'
  • From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga
  • Return of the Jedi
  • Star Wars: Music by John Williams
  • The Making of The Empire Strikes Back
  • SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back

Behind the camera

  • Star Wars: Droids - Treasure of the Hidden Planet
  • Manassas: End of Innocence
  • Special Effects: Anything Can Happen
  • Behind the Scenes with King Kong in Special Effects
  • The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Attack of the Hawkmen
  • Destiny in Space
  • The American Gangster
  • The True Story of Glory Continues
  • Blue Planet
  • Star Wars: Droids - The Great Heep

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Ben Burtt · moviemoood