Linwood G. Dunn
Linwood Gale Dunn ( * December 27, 1904 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, † 20 May 1998 in Los Angeles, California ) was an American special effects artist.
Life
Dunn began his career in 1923 as a projectionist in the silent film era. Two years later he became a camera assistant at Pathé and founded in 1928 the International Photographers Guild. From 1929 he first worked as a cameraman at RKO Pictures; after he had developed a first automatic camera fade, he became head of the department for special photographic effects. Overall, Dunn worked 28 years at RKO Pictures and was involved in films such as King Kong and the White Woman and Citizen Kane. After the end of RKO Pictures in 1957, he focused on his own company, founded in 1946 Film Effects of Hollywood. With this he marketed his invention Acme - Dunn, the first commercially available optical printer, for whose development he had received an Oscar. 1965 Dunn worked for Desilu in the television series Star Trek. Most exterior shots of the spaceship were made by Dunn himself.
1985 Dunn sold his company and retired. For its technical merits, he was twice the Oscar, awarded the John A. Bonner Medal, the Gordon E. Sawyer Award and the Academy Award of Merit. Between 1976 and 1977 he was president of the American Society of Cinematographers.