Randy Thom

Nicasio, California -- 2010

Hello, gorgeous! I never thought I'd find myself holding an actual Oscar while doing my Streisand impression. (Yes, it's heavier than it looks.) Academy Award winning sound designer, Randy Thom, said that the little statue gets him girls. I guess it's true!

We met at Skywalker Sound, soundstage of film director George Lucas, during the live broadcast of Sedge Thomson's West Coast Live Radio Show. Vocalist Pamela Rose invited me to perform with her to promote her newest recording, Wild Women: Great Gal Composers of the Jazz Era. Randy Tom was being interviewed on the same show about his sound effects for the latest release by Lucasfilm, How to Train Your Dragon. Who knew that flying saucer sounds could be generated by holding a plastic dust pan to a moving bicycle tire?

A few weeks earlier Randy Thom had received the Cinema Audio Society's highest accolade, the CAS Career Achievement Award, honoring his career spanning more than 30 years and his work on more than 75 of the biggest films in Hollywood. He has shared in 14 nominations for Academy Awards, winning the Oscar for Best Sound Editing for The Incredibles and Best Sound for The Right Stuff and nominated for such hits as Star Wars: Episode VI-Return of the Jedi, Never Cry Wolf, Backdraft, Contact, Cast Away, Forrest Gump, The Polar Express and Ratatouille. Thom began his career in film three decades ago working on the film Apocalypse Now and is currently the Director of Sound Design at Skywalker Sound.

For more about Randy Thom, visit http://filmsound.org/randythom.