Willie D. Burton

Willie D. Burton
Born	Sound engineer
Years active	1975 – present

Willie D. Burton is an American

Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Mixing for his work on Roots

Early life

Willie D. Burton was born in

Civil Rights Movement, Alabama was slow in its movement toward equality in job opportunities. As his motivation and interest grew, Burton made the decision to move to Long Beach, California

after high school graduation. Burton attended a trade school and then Compton City College, where he studied electronics technology.

After graduating from Compton City College, Burton worked on sonar technology for the Department of the Navy, but his ultimate goal was to work in broadcasting. He was prevented from accomplishing this goal because he needed to be a union member to work in Hollywood. Finally, in 1969, he made it into the International Sound Technicians union. Burton was the first black man to be officially accepted into the union. This led to an entry-level job on the TV series Land of the Giants. Between TV jobs, which also included work as a boom operator on Medical Center and Gunsmoke, Burton worked as a custodian at a bank.

A friend from one of his TV jobs helped train Burton on sound-mixing equipment. Burton gained an immense amount of interest in

sound mixing as he developed and polished his talents. Those who worked with him in Hollywood soon recognized his potential. Burton's big break into the sound-mixing world came in 1975, when he heard that Sidney Poitier was directing the film Let's Do It Again, with Bill Cosby. Poitier agreed to hire Burton. This decision launched him into a career that has spanned five decades. He also became part of the Cinema Audio Society.^[2] With seven nominations each, Burton and television producer Quincy Jones are currently the Academy's most-honored African-Americans in the film industry.^[3]

Accolades

Oppenheimer (2023)

Oscar – Nomimated – Best Sound

Dreamgirls (2006)

Oscar - Won -

Best Sound Mixing^[4]^[5]

Cinema Audio Society - Won - Outstanding Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures

Satellite Award - Won - Best Sound (Editing & Mixing)

The Green Mile (1999)

Oscar - Nominated -

Best Sound Mixing

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Oscar - Nominated -

Best Sound Mixing

In the Line of Fire (1993)

Cinema Audio Society - Nominated - Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Feature Film

Bird (1988)

Oscar - Won -

Best Sound Mixing^[6]^[7]

BAFTA Film Award - Nominated - Best Sound

WarGames (1983)

Oscar - Nominated -

Best Sound Mixing

BAFTA Film Award - Won - Best Sound

Altered States (1980)

Oscar - Nominated -

Best Sound Mixing

The Buddy Holly Story (1978)

Oscar - Nominated -

Best Sound Mixing

Roots (1977)

Primetime Emmy - Nominated - Outstanding Film Sound Mixing^[8]

References

External links

Willie D. Burton at
IMDb

Awards for Willie D. Burton

v t e Academy Award for Best Sound
1929–1950	Douglas Shearer (1929/30) Paramount Publix Studio Sound Department (1930/31) Paramount Publix Studio Sound Department (1931/32) Franklin Hansen (1932/33) John P. Livadary (1934) Douglas Shearer (1935) Douglas Shearer (1936) Thomas T. Moulton (1937) Thomas T. Moulton (1938) Bernard B. Brown (1939) Douglas Shearer (1940) Jack Whitney (1941) Nathan Levinson (1942) Stephen Dunn (1943) Edmund H. Hansen (1944) Stephen Dunn (1945) John P. Livadary (1946) Gordon E. Sawyer (1947) Thomas T. Moulton (1948) Thomas T. Moulton (1949) Thomas T. Moulton (1950)
1951–1975	Douglas Shearer (1951) London Films Sound Department (1952) John P. Livadary (1953) Leslie I. Carey (1954) Fred Hynes (1955) Carlton W. Faulkner (1956) George Groves (1957) Fred Hynes (1958) Franklin Milton (1959) Fred Hynes and Gordon E. Sawyer (1960) Gordon E. Sawyer and Fred Hynes (1961) John Cox (1962) Franklin Milton (1963) George Groves (1964) James Corcoran and Fred Hynes (1965) Franklin Milton (1966) Samuel Goldwyn Studio (1967) Shepperton Studios (1968) Jack Solomon and Murray Spivack (1969) Douglas Williams and Don Bassman (1970) Gordon McCallum and David Hildyard (1971) Robert Knudson and David Hildyard (1972) Robert Knudson and Chris Newman (1973) Ronald Pierce and Melvin Metcalfe Sr. (1974) Robert Hoyt, Roger Heman, Earl Madery, and John Carter (1975)
1976–2000	Arthur Piantadosi, Les Fresholtz, Dick Alexander, and Jim Webb (1976) Don MacDougall, Ray West, Bob Minkler, and Derek Ball (1977) Richard Portman, William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin, and Darin Knight (1978) Walter Murch, Mark Berger, Richard Beggs, and Nat Boxer (1979) Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker, and Peter Sutton (1980) Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker, and Roy Charman (1981) Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don Digirolamo, and Gene Cantamessa (1982) Mark Berger, Tom Scott, Randy Thom, and David MacMillan (1983) Mark Berger, Tom Scott, Todd Boekelheide, and Chris Newman (1984) Chris Jenkins, Gary Alexander, Larry Stensvold, and Peter Handford (1985) John Wilkinson, Richard Rogers, Charles Grenzbach, and Simon Kaye (1986) Bill Rowe and Ivan Sharrock (1987) Les Fresholtz, Dick Alexander, Vern Poore, and Willie D. Burton (1988) Donald O. Mitchell, Gregg Rudloff, Elliot Tyson, and Russell Williams II (1989) Jeffrey Perkins, Bill W. Benton, Gregory H. Watkins, and Russell Williams II (1990) Tom Johnson, Gary Rydstrom, Gary Summers, and Lee Orloff (1991) Chris Jenkins, Doug Hemphill, Mark Smith, and Simon Kaye (1992) Gary Summers, Gary Rydstrom, Shawn Murphy, and Ron Judkins (1993) Gregg Landaker, Steve Maslow, Bob Beemer, and David MacMillan (1994) Rick Dior, Steve Pederson, Scott Millan, and David MacMillan (1995) Walter Murch, Mark Berger, David Parker, and Chris Newman (1996) Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Gary Summers, and Mark Ulano (1997) Gary Rydstrom, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, and Ron Judkins (1998) John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, David E. Campbell, and David Lee (1999) Bob Beemer, Scott Millan, and Ken Weston (2000)
2001–present	Michael Minkler, Chris Munro, and Myron Nettinga (2001) David Lee, Michael Minkler, and Dominick Tavella (2002) Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Hammond Peek, and Michael Semanick (2003) Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer, and Steve Cantamessa (2004) Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges, and Hammond Peek (2005) Bob Beemer, Willie D. Burton, and Michael Minkler (2006) Kirk Francis, Scott Millan, and David Parker (2007) Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke, and Ian Tapp (2008) Paul N. J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett (2009) Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, and Ed Novick (2010) Tom Fleischman and John Midgley (2011) Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, and Simon Hayes (2012) Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, and Chris Munro (2013) Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins, and Thomas Curley (2014) Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff, and Ben Osmo (2015) Kevin O'Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie, and Peter Grace (2016) Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, and Gary Rizzo (2017) Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin, and John Casali (2018) Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson (2019) Jaime Baksht, Nicolas Becker, Phillip Bladh, Carlos Cortés Navarrete, and Michelle Couttolenc (2020) Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill, and Ron Bartlett (2021) Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon, and Mark Taylor (2022) Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn (2023)

v t e BAFTA Award for Best Sound
1968–1980	Winston Ryder (1968) Don Challis and Simon Kaye (1969) Don Hall, David Dockendorf and William Edmondson (1970) Vittorio Trentino and Giuseppe Muratori (1971) David Hildyard, Robert Knudson and Arthur Piantadosi (1972) Les Wiggins, Gordon McCallum and Keith Grant (1973) Art Rochester, Nat Boxer, Michael Evje and Walter Murch (1974) William A. Sawyer, James Webb, Chris McLaughlin and Richard Portman (1975) Les Wiggins, Clive Winter and Ken Barker (1976) Peter Horrocks, Gerry Humphreys, Simon Kaye, Robin O'Donoghue and Les Wiggins (1977) Sam Shaw, Robert Rutledge, Gordon Davidson, Gene Corso, Derek Ball, Don MacDougall, Bob Minkler, Ray West, Michael Minkler, Les Fresholtz, Richard Portman and Ben Burtt (1978) Derrick Leather, Jim Shields and Bill Rowe (1979) Christopher Newman, Les Wiggins and Michael J. Kohut (1980)
1981–2000	Don Sharpe, Ivan Sharrock and Bill Rowe (1981) James Guthrie, Eddy Joseph, Clive Winter, Graham V. Hartstone and Nicolas Le Messurier (1982) Willie D. Burton, Michael J. Kohut and William Manger (1983) Ian Fuller, Clive Winter and Bill Rowe (1984) John Nutt, Christopher Newman and Mark Berger (1985) Tom McCarthy Jr., Peter Handford and Chris Jenkins (1986) Jonathan Bates, Simon Kaye and Gerry Humphreys (1987) Charles L. Campbell, Louis Edemann, Robert Knudson and Tony Dawe (1988) Bill Phillips, Danny Michael, Robert J. Litt, Elliot Tyson and Rick Kline (1989) J. Paul Huntsman, Stephan von Hase, Chris Jenkins, Gary Alexander and Doug Hemphill (1990) Lee Orloff, Tom Johnson, Gary Rydstrom and Gary Summers (1991) Tod A. Maitland, Wylie Stateman, Michael D. Wilhoit, Michael Minkler and Gregg Landaker (1992) John Leveque, Bruce Stambler, Becky Sullivan, Scott D. Smith, Donald O. Mitchell, Michael Herbick and Frank A. Montaño (1993) Stephen Hunter Flick, Gregg Landaker, Steve Maslow, Bob Beemer and David MacMillan (1994) Per Hallberg, Lon Bender, Brian Simmons, Andy Nelson, Scott Millan and Anna Behlmer (1995) Jim Greenhorn, Toivo Lember, Livia Ruzic, Roger Savage and Gareth Vanderhope (1996) Terry Rodman, Roland N. Thai, Kirk Francis, Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and John Leveque (1997) Gary Rydstrom, Ron Judkins, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Richard Hymns (1998) David Lee, John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, David E. Campbell and Dane Davis (1999) Jeff Wexler, Doug Hemphill, Rick Kline, Paul Massey and Michael D. Wilhoit (2000)
2001–present	Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Roger Savage, Guntis Sics, Gareth Vanderhope and Antony Gray (2001) Michael Minkler, Dominick Tavella, David Lee and Maurice Schell (2002) Richard King, Doug Hemphill, Paul Massey and Art Rochester (2003) Karen Baker Landers, Per Hallberg, Steve Cantamessa, Scott Millan, Greg Orloff and Bob Beemer (2004) Paul Massey, Doug Hemphill, Peter Kurland and Donald Sylvester (2005) Chris Munro, Eddy Joseph, Mike Prestwood Smith, Martin Cantwell and Mark Taylor (2006) Kirk Francis, Scott Millan, Dave Parker, Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg (2007) Glenn Freemantle, Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke, Tom Sayers and Ian Tapp (2008) Ray Beckett and Paul N. J. Ottosson (2009) Richard King, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick (2010) Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman and John Midgley (2011) Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole and John Warhurst (2012) Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri and Chris Munro (2013) Thomas Curley, Ben Wilkins and Craig Mann (2014) Lon Bender, Chris Duesterdiek, Martin Hernández, Frank A. Montaño, Jon Taylor and Randy Thom (2015) Claude La Haye, Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Sylvain Bellemare (2016) Alex Gibson, Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary Rizzo and Mark Weingarten (2017) John Casali, Tim Cavagin, Nina Hartstone, Paul Massey and John Warhurst (2018) Scott Millan, Oliver Tarney, Rachael Tate, Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson (2019) Jaime Baksht, Nicolas Becker, Phillip Bladh, Carlos Cortés and Michelle Couttolenc (2020) Ron Bartlett, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill, Mark Mangini and Mac Ruth (2021) Lars Ginzsel, Frank Kruse, Viktor Prášil and Markus Stemler (2022) Johnnie Burn and Tarn Willers (2023)

v t e Satellite Award for Best Sound
1990s	Gary Alper, Skip Lievsay, and Frank Morrone (1999)
2000s	Frank E. Eulner (2000) Christopher Boyes, Gethin Creagh, Hammond Peek, and Michael Semanick (2001) Larry Blake (2002) Doug Hemphill, Richard King, Paul Massey, and Art Rochester (2003) Elliott Koretz, Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga, and Lee Orloff (2004) Paul Brincat, Ben Burtt, Tom Myers, Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, and Matthew Wood (2005) Bob Beemer, Willie D. Burton, Michael Minkler, and Richard E. Yawn (2006) Kirk Francis, Per Hallberg, Karen Baker Landers, Scott Millan, and David Parker (2007) Lora Hirschberg, Richard King, and Gary Rizzo (2008) Jeffrey J. Haboush, Michael Keller, Rick Kline, Michael McGee, and Paul N. J. Ottosson (2009)
2010s	Beau Borders, William B. Kaplan, Kevin O'Connell, and Mark Stoeckinger (2010) Lon Bender, Robert Eber, Victor Ray Ennis, Robert Fernandez, and Dave Paterson (2011) Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Lee Walpole, and John Warhurst (2012) Niv Adiri, Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, and Chris Munro (2013) Thomas Curley, Craig Mann, and Ben Wilkins (2014) Paul Massey, Mac Ruth, Oliver Tarney, and Mark Taylor (2015) Peter Grace, Robert Mackenzie, Kevin O'Connell, and Andy Wright (2016) Alex Gibson, Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary Rizzo, and Mark Weingarten (2017) Erik Aadahl, Michael Barosky, Brandon Proctor, and Ethan Van der Ryn (2018) David Giammarco, Paul Massey, Steven A. Morrow, and Donald Sylvester (2019)
2020s	Jaime Baksht, Nicolas Becker, Phillip Bladh, Carlos Cortés, Michelle Couttolenc, and Carolina Santana (2020) Paul Hsu and Tod A. Maitland (2021) Al Nelson, James Mather, Mark Weingarten, and Bjorn Schroeder (2022) Richard King, Steven A. Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Jason Ruder, and Dean A. Zupancic (2023)

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	Germany
People	Deutsche Biographie

Early life

Career

Accolades

References

External links