Willie D. Burton

Last updated
Willie D. Burton
Born
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
Occupation Sound engineer
Years active1975 – present

Willie D. Burton is an American production sound mixer. His career has spanned five decades and has included films such as The Shawshank Redemption , Se7en , and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade . [1] Burton has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound or Best Achievement in Sound Mixing a total of seven times, winning twice; he has been nominated for two BAFTA Film Awards for Best Sound, winning once; and he was nominated for one Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Mixing for his work on Roots .

Contents

Early life

Willie D. Burton was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Burton grew up in Alabama, and became fascinated with broadcasting because he lived near a radio station. While attending high school, Burton entered a work-study program in a store that sold and repaired radios and TVs. He became experienced repairing radios, and began to experiment with improving and learning more about the electronics. His attention then moved to sound and sound mixing. His work at the electronic shop fed Burton's fascination with electronics and sound, but he was obstructed by the limited opportunities for African-Americans to work in the field, especially in the Deep South. In the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, Alabama was slow in its movement toward equality in job opportunities. As his motivation and interest grew, Burton made the decision to move to Long Beach, California after high school graduation. Burton attended a trade school and then Compton City College, where he studied electronics technology.

Career

After graduating from Compton City College, Burton worked on sonar technology for the Department of the Navy, but his ultimate goal was to work in broadcasting. He was prevented from accomplishing this goal because he needed to be a union member to work in Hollywood. Finally, in 1969, he made it into the International Sound Technicians union. Burton was the first black man to be officially accepted into the union. This led to an entry-level job on the TV series Land of the Giants . Between TV jobs, which also included work as a boom operator on Medical Center and Gunsmoke , Burton worked as a custodian at a bank.

A friend from one of his TV jobs helped train Burton on sound-mixing equipment. Burton gained an immense amount of interest in sound mixing as he developed and polished his talents. Those who worked with him in Hollywood soon recognized his potential. Burton's big break into the sound-mixing world came in 1975, when he heard that Sidney Poitier was directing the film Let's Do It Again , with Bill Cosby. Poitier agreed to hire Burton. This decision launched him into a career that has spanned five decades. He also became part of the Cinema Audio Society. [2] With seven nominations each, Burton and television producer Quincy Jones are currently the Academy's most-honored African-Americans in the film industry. [3]

Accolades

Oscar – Pending – Best Sound
Oscar - Won - Best Sound Mixing [4] [5]
Cinema Audio Society - Won - Outstanding Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures
Satellite Award - Won - Best Sound (Editing & Mixing)
Oscar - Nominated - Best Sound Mixing
Oscar - Nominated - Best Sound Mixing
Cinema Audio Society - Nominated - Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Feature Film
Oscar - Won - Best Sound Mixing [6] [7]
BAFTA Film Award - Nominated - Best Sound
Oscar - Nominated - Best Sound Mixing
BAFTA Film Award - Won - Best Sound
Oscar - Nominated - Best Sound Mixing
Oscar - Nominated - Best Sound Mixing
Primetime Emmy - Nominated - Outstanding Film Sound Mixing [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Newman</span> American composer

Thomas Montgomery Newman is an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career that has spanned over four decades, he has scored numerous films including The Player (1992), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), The Horse Whisperer (1998), American Beauty and The Green Mile, Pay It Forward (2000), In the Bedroom (2001), Road to Perdition and White Oleander, Finding Nemo (2003) and its sequel Finding Dory (2016), Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), Cinderella Man (2005), WALL-E (2008), the James Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), 1917 (2019), and Elemental (2023). He also composed the music for the HBO drama series Six Feet Under (2001) and 2003 miniseries Angels in America. Throughout his career, he has collaborated extensively with directors such as Sam Mendes, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Steven Soderbergh, Jon Avnet, John Madden and John Lee Hancock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Emerson</span> American actor (born 1954)

Michael Emerson is an American actor who is best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost (2006–2010) and as Harold Finch in the CBS series Person of Interest (2011–2016). Other prominent roles include Zep Hindle in the horror film Saw (2004) and the recurring role of Cayden James on Arrow (2017–2018). He currently stars as Dr. Leland Townsend in the Paramount+ thriller series Evil (2019–present).

<i>Dreamgirls</i> (film) 2006 film by Bill Condon

Dreamgirls is a 2006 American musical drama film written and directed by Bill Condon and jointly produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures. Adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name, Dreamgirls is a film à clef, a work of fiction taking strong inspiration from the history of the Motown record label and its superstar act, The Supremes. The story follows the history and evolution of American R&B music during the 1960s and 1970s through the eyes of a Detroit girl group known as "The Dreams" and their manipulative record executive.

Peter Franklin Kurland is an American production sound mixer.

Kevin O'Connell is a sound re-recording mixer. He held the record for most Academy Award nominations without a win at 20, until he finally won his first Academy Award for Hacksaw Ridge (2016) at the 89th Academy Awards in 2017.

William M. Nicholson is a sound re-recording mixer at NBC Universal studios in Los Angeles, California. During his lengthy career, he has received numerous awards and nominations, including 5 Emmy awards, 22 Emmy nominations, 2 Cinema Audio Society nominations, and an Academy Award nomination for Martin Scorsese's 1980 film Raging Bull. He is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Terence Rawlings was a British film editor and sound editor with several BAFTA nominations and one Academy Award nomination. His credits as a sound editor date from 1962–1977, after which he was credited primarily as a film editor.

Alex Heffes is a British film composer. His film scores include those for the BAFTA-winning Touching the Void, and Oscar-winning movies One Day in September, The Last King of Scotland, and Inside Job. Heffes was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for his work on Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

Michael Minkler is a motion picture sound re-recording mixer. He has received Academy Awards for his work on Dreamgirls, Chicago and Black Hawk Down. His varied career has also included films like Inglourious Basterds, JFK and Star Wars, as well as television programs like The Pacific and John Adams. Minkler works at Todd-AO Hollywood. He is also the Managing Director of Moving Pictures Media Group, a company that specializes in film development, packaging projects for production funding acquisition.

Michael J. Kohut was an American audio engineer. He was a seven-time Academy Award nominee for Best Sound, a BAFTA award winner for Best Sound for Fame and was President of Post Production Facilities at Sony Pictures Studios. During his tenure at Sony Pictures Studios, he led the American team in the development of Sony Dynamic Digital Sound the discrete eight-channel playback system for motion picture sound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg P. Russell</span> American sound engineer

Greg P. Russell is an American sound engineer. He has worked on more than 200 films since 1977, and has received 16 Academy Award nominations for Best Sound Mixing, although he has never won. Russell has also been nominated for 12 Cinema Audio Society awards, two BAFTA's and two Emmys, with one Daytime Emmy Award win occurring in 1989 for Outstanding Film Sound Mixing for his work on Muppet Babies.

Simon Hayes is a British sound engineer. Hayes won an Academy Award for Best Sound at the 85th Academy Awards for his work on Les Misérables. He won a BAFTA for Best Sound for the same film. In 2022, the 94th Academy Awards included Hayes as a nominee for Best Sound Mixing for his work on No Time to Die.

Ai-Ling Lee is a Singaporean sound editor, re-recording mixer and audio engineer working in Los Angeles, California. Her works on films, Bruce Almighty (2003), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), Tangled (2010), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Wild (2014), The Maze Runner (2014–15), Deadpool (2016), and critically acclaimed musical-drama La La Land, for which she received two Academy Award nominations. With her nomination for the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing, she and her sound editing partner for the film Mildred Iatrou Morgan became the first female team to be nominated in the category.

Andy "Frank" Wright is an Australian supervising sound editor. He is known for his work on the war-drama film Hacksaw Ridge directed by Mel Gibson, for which he received two Academy Award nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, Best Sound Editing and winning Best Sound Mixing (both shared with Robert Mackenzie).

Robert Mackenzie is an Australian supervising sound editor. He is best known for his work on Animal Kingdom (2010), The Hunter (2011), Lore (2012), Felony (2013), The Grandmaster (2013), The Rover (2014), Deadline Gallipoli (2015), Partisan (2015), Lion, and critically acclaimed war-drama film Hacksaw Ridge, for which he received two Academy Award nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing (both shared with Andy Wright).

Steven "Steve" A. Morrow is an American production sound mixer. Morrow has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound or Best Achievement in Sound Mixing a total of three times for his work on La La Land, A Star is Born, and Ford v Ferrari. He has been nominated for three BAFTA Film Awards for Best Sound for La La Land, A Star is Born, and Ford v Ferrari.

Peter Grace is an Australian production sound mixer. He is best known for his work on critically acclaimed war-drama film Hacksaw Ridge (2016) for which he received the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing at the 89th Academy Awards, sharing with Robert Mackenzie, Kevin O'Connell and Andy Wright.

Mary H. Ellis is an American production sound mixer. She has been nominated twice for an Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing. Both films also received nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Sound. Mary is the second female production mixer to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Donald Sylvester is an American sound editor who has worked on over 100 films. He is best known for his work with James Mangold on the films Ford v Ferrari (2019), Logan (2017), 3:10 to Yuma (2007), and Walk the Line (2005). Sylvester won the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing at the 92nd Academy Awards for Ford v Ferrari and BAFTA Award for Best Sound at the 59th British Academy Film Awards for Walk the Line. He has been a member of BAFTA since 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake Allston</span> American sound designer (born 1986)

Jake Allston is an American sound designer.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.