By Diego Ramos Bechara
LOS ANGELES (Variety) — Leo Chaloukian, a multi-Emmy Award-winning sound designer and former chair of the Television Academy, died on July 18. He was 97.
During his 60-year career in sound, Chaloukian won four national Emmys and two regional Emmys — working at Ryder Sound Service, a company he’d eventually become the sole owner of for most of his career.
He worked on sound for National Geographic specials, David Wolper Productions documentaries and classic television shows like “Lassie,” “Death Valley Days,” “Sea Hunt,” “Maverick,” “Route 66,” “Gunsmoke” and Jacques Cousteau specials.
Chaloukian also oversaw the sound design for the 1967 film “The Graduate” and, with his staff of audio engineers, created the sound design for 1969’s “Easy Rider.”
The company also contributed to the recording, rerecording and mixing for “Love Story,” “The Godfather,” “Chinatown,” “Saturday Night Fever” and the first Star Trek movies, as well as “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Tootsie” and “The Killing Fields.”
