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Ben Burtt

Born 1948-07-12

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.

Known for

WALL·E 2008 · 8.4 Empire of Dreams: The Story of the 'Star Wars' Trilogy 2004 · 8.3 Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound 2019 · 7.6 Under the Helmet: The Legacy of Boba Fett 2021 · 7.2 WALL-E: Treasures and Trinkets 2008 · 8.3 Blue Planet 1990 · 7.1