Fred Sersen

Ferdinand "Fred" Sersen ( born February 24, 1890 in Czechoslovakia; † December 11, 1962 in Los Angeles, California ) was an American film technician at the Academy Awards in 1940 along with Edmund H. Hansen the first Oscar for Best special Effects received.

Biography

Originally from Czechoslovakia Sersen began in the early 1930s as an expert in special effects in the film industry in Hollywood and was first involved in A Connecticut Yankee (1931 ) on the creation of a movie. Throughout his 23- year career he worked for more than 220 film productions.

Along with Edmund H. Hansen 1940 he won the first Oscar for best special effects in the film The Rains Came ( 1939).

Subsequently other nominations in this category namely 1941 EH Hansen for The Blue Bird ( 1940), 1942 E. H. Hansen for A Yank in the R.A.F. as well as Roger Heman Sr. in 1943 and George Leverett for The Black Swan (1942 ).

At the Academy Awards in 1944, he was awarded Roger Heman Sr. for the film Crash Dive (1943 ) for the second time with the Oscar for best special effects.

Subsequently, he was awarded three more times for the Academy Award for Best Special Effects: 1945, together with R. Heman Sr. Wilson (1944 ), 1946 with Sol Halperin, R. Heman Sr. and Harry M. Leonard for the foolhardy adventures of Captain Eddie (1945 ) and most recently at the Oscar ceremony in 1949 with Ralph Hammeras, Edward Snyder and R. Heman Sr. for Deep Waters (1948 ).

Other well-known films in which he was involved as an expert in special effects, were Brigham Young (1940 ), Laura ( 1944), The Miracle of Manhattan ( 1947), Gentleman's Agreement (1947 ), Kiss of Death (1947 ), Blood enmity ( 1949), so an unlucky (1950), All About Eve (1950), Fox and the City ( 1950), hero of Mindanao (1950), the last attack (1951 ), frogmen (1951 ), the case of Cicero (1951 ) and the Day the Earth Stood Still ( 1951).

During his career Sersen worked with film directors such as John Ford, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Elia Kazan, George Seaton, Otto Preminger, Henry Hathaway, Samuel Fuller, Clarence Brown, Lloyd Bacon, Fritz Lang, Robert Wise, Walter Lang, Henry King and Archie Mayo together.