American sound mixer (1934–2011)
Bill Varney
Born Harold William Varney
(1934-01-22 ) January 22, 1934Died April 2, 2011(2011-04-02) (aged 77) Occupation Sound mixer Years active 1972–2011 Spouse Suzanne Varney (1 child)
Harold William Varney (January 22, 1934 – April 2, 2011) was an American motion picture
sound mixer . A two-time
Academy Award winner, Varney shared the
Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing for
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back in 1980
[1] and
Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981.
[2]
[3] Varney also received
Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing nominations for his collaborative sound mixing on
Dune in 1984
[4] and
Back to the Future in 1985.
[3]
Life and career
Varney was born on January 22, 1934, in
Beverly, Massachusetts .
[3]
One of Varney's earliest projects was a film focusing on singer
Joan Baez during the 1950s.
[3] Baez's father was a physics professor at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology .
[3] Varney relocated to
southern California in 1961, where he produced educational films for
Encyclopædia Britannica .
[3]
Varney transitioned to film and television
sound mixing in 1972.
[3] He worked on approximately 85 productions over the next twenty-five years.
[3] He worked at
The Samuel Goldwyn Company for fourteen years, until he joined
Universal Pictures in 1985.
[3]
Varney won collaborative back-to-back
Academy Awards for Best Sound for
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and
Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981.
[3] He also received nominations for
Dune in 1984 and
Back to the Future in 1985.
[3]
[5] Additionally, Varney was nominated an Emmy Award for his sound work on the 1977
television miniseries ,
Roots .
[3]
Varney's numerous film credits included
The Last Waltz in 1978,
Grease in 1978,
Ordinary People in 1980,
Poltergeist and
My Favorite Year , both released in 1982, and
Dragonheart in 1996.
[3]
By 1998, he had risen to become the Vice President of Sound Operations for Universal Pictures.
[3] That same year, Varney collaborated on the sound re-editing for the 1958
Orson Welles film,
Touch of Evil .
[3] Welles had been replaced from the film during its
post-production , and was never allowed to cut Touch of Evil the way he had originally intended.
[3]
Rick Schmidlin produced the re-edit for Universal Pictures based on a 58-page lost memo written by Welles a year before the film was released.
[3] Varney spearheaded the sound restoration for the 1998 directors cut re-release of Touch of Evil .
[3] Varney used "digital processing to bring the 40-year-old soundtracks to a new level of clarity," according to
Walter Murch , who worked as the
sound editor and sound mixer for the 1998 re-release.
[3]
Varney retired from Universal Studios in 2001 and moved to
Fairhope, Alabama in 2003.
[3]
Varney died on April 2, 2011, of
congestive heart failure in Fairhope at the age of 77.
[6] He was survived by his wife, Suzanne, and daughter, Lisa.
[3]
References
External links
1929–1950 1951–1975 1976–2000
Arthur Piantadosi ,
Les Fresholtz ,
Dick Alexander , and
Jim Webb (1976)
Don MacDougall ,
Ray West ,
Bob Minkler , and
Derek Ball (1977)
Richard Portman ,
William McCaughey ,
Aaron Rochin , and
Darin Knight (1978)
Walter Murch ,
Mark Berger ,
Richard Beggs , and
Nat Boxer (1979)
Bill Varney ,
Steve Maslow ,
Gregg Landaker , and
Peter Sutton (1980)
Bill Varney ,
Steve Maslow ,
Gregg Landaker , and
Roy Charman (1981)
Robert Knudson ,
Robert Glass ,
Don Digirolamo , and
Gene Cantamessa (1982)
Mark Berger ,
Tom Scott ,
Randy Thom , and
David MacMillan (1983)
Mark Berger ,
Tom Scott ,
Todd Boekelheide , and
Chris Newman (1984)
Chris Jenkins ,
Gary Alexander ,
Larry Stensvold , and
Peter Handford (1985)
John Wilkinson ,
Richard Rogers ,
Charles Grenzbach , and
Simon Kaye (1986)
Bill Rowe and
Ivan Sharrock (1987)
Les Fresholtz ,
Dick Alexander ,
Vern Poore , and
Willie D. Burton (1988)
Donald O. Mitchell ,
Gregg Rudloff ,
Elliot Tyson , and
Russell Williams II (1989)
Jeffrey Perkins ,
Bill W. Benton ,
Gregory H. Watkins , and
Russell Williams II (1990)
Tom Johnson ,
Gary Rydstrom ,
Gary Summers , and
Lee Orloff (1991)
Chris Jenkins ,
Doug Hemphill ,
Mark Smith , and
Simon Kaye (1992)
Gary Summers ,
Gary Rydstrom ,
Shawn Murphy , and
Ron Judkins (1993)
Gregg Landaker ,
Steve Maslow ,
Bob Beemer , and
David MacMillan (1994)
Rick Dior ,
Steve Pederson ,
Scott Millan , and
David MacMillan (1995)
Walter Murch ,
Mark Berger ,
David Parker , and
Chris Newman (1996)
Gary Rydstrom ,
Tom Johnson ,
Gary Summers , and
Mark Ulano (1997)
Gary Rydstrom ,
Gary Summers ,
Andy Nelson , and
Ron Judkins (1998)
John T. Reitz ,
Gregg Rudloff ,
David E. Campbell , and
David Lee (1999)
Bob Beemer ,
Scott Millan , and
Ken Weston (2000)
2001–present
Michael Minkler ,
Chris Munro , and
Myron Nettinga (2001)
David Lee ,
Michael Minkler , and
Dominick Tavella (2002)
Christopher Boyes ,
Michael Hedges ,
Hammond Peek , and
Michael Semanick (2003)
Scott Millan ,
Greg Orloff ,
Bob Beemer , and
Steve Cantamessa (2004)
Christopher Boyes ,
Michael Semanick ,
Michael Hedges , and
Hammond Peek (2005)
Bob Beemer ,
Willie D. Burton , and
Michael Minkler (2006)
Kirk Francis ,
Scott Millan , and
David Parker (2007)
Resul Pookutty ,
Richard Pryke , and
Ian Tapp (2008)
Paul N. J. Ottosson and
Ray Beckett (2009)
Lora Hirschberg ,
Gary Rizzo , and
Ed Novick (2010)
Tom Fleischman and
John Midgley (2011)
Andy Nelson ,
Mark Paterson , and
Simon Hayes (2012)
Skip Lievsay ,
Niv Adiri ,
Christopher Benstead , and
Chris Munro (2013)
Craig Mann ,
Ben Wilkins , and
Thomas Curley (2014)
Chris Jenkins ,
Gregg Rudloff , and
Ben Osmo (2015)
Kevin O'Connell ,
Andy Wright ,
Robert Mackenzie , and
Peter Grace (2016)
Mark Weingarten ,
Gregg Landaker , and
Gary Rizzo (2017)
Paul Massey ,
Tim Cavagin , and
John Casali (2018)
Mark Taylor and
Stuart Wilson (2019)
Jaime Baksht ,
Nicolas Becker ,
Phillip Bladh ,
Carlos Cortés Navarrete , and
Michelle Couttolenc (2020)
Mac Ruth ,
Mark Mangini ,
Theo Green ,
Doug Hemphill , and
Ron Bartlett (2021)
Mark Weingarten ,
James H. Mather ,
Al Nelson ,
Chris Burdon , and
Mark Taylor (2022)
Tarn Willers and
Johnnie Burn (2023)