Howard Anderson, Jr., To Receive ASC Presidents Award

LOS ANGELES---Howard A. Anderson Jr., ASC will receive the AmericanSociety of Cinematographers Presidents Award, which is presentedannually to an individual who has made extraordinary contributions toadvancing the art of filmmaking. Anderson will be feted at the 18thAnnual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards on February 8, 2004, at theCentury Plaza Hotel.

"Howard Anderson is a dedicated, passionate filmmaker whoexemplifies the ASC principals of artistry, loyalty and progress," saysOwen Roizman, ASC, who heads the organization's awards committee. "Hehas consistently established high standards for innovation andcreativity in important sectors of our industry."

Anderson's credits include visual effects for hundreds of films,including such classics as Heaven Can Wait, Blazing Saddles, TheBody Snatchers, Some Like it Hot, the 1960 version of Godzilla,Tobruk, Annie, Superman and Gray Lady Down. He also createdtitles and visual effects for such memorable television series as ILove Lucy, My Favorite Martian, The Untouchables, The Invaders,Dragnet, The Waltons, The Fugitive, Barnaby Jones, The A-Team andthe original Star Trek.

"Howard [Anderson Jr.] is an unsung hero, who has worked behind thescenes making countless contributions to advancing the art and craft offilmmaking," says ASC President Richard Crudo. "He has earned theadmiration and respect of his peers."

Anderson joins an extraordinary list of recipients of the covetedASC Presidents Award, including actor Robert DuVall; visual effectspioneers Linwood Dunn, ASC, Hans Koenekamp, ASC and Douglas Trumbull;Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown; camera designers "Tak" Miyagishimaand Albert Mayer Jr.; documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles; archivistKemp Kniver; and cinematographers William Clothier, ASC, CharlesWheeler, ASC, Guy Green, BSC and Ralph Woolsey, ASC.

Anderson traces his roots to the earliest days of the film industry.His father, Howard A. Anderson, was a portrait photographer in Chicagoprior to joining the United States Army at the outbreak of World War I.After the elder Anderson was discharged in 1918, he migrated to LosAngeles with the goal of finding a niche in the new motion pictureindustry. He was hired by Thomas Ince as a still photographer andsecond cameraman at Culver City Studios. After Ince died in 1924, thestudio was taken over by Cecil B. De Mille. Anderson created lightning,storm and flood effects for De Mille's The King of Kings, one ofthe last, successful silent movies. He founded the Howard AndersonSpecial Photographic Effects Company in 1927.

The younger Anderson was still in his pre-teens when he beganworking part-time for his father's company during the early 1930s. Hesubsequently studied math at the University of California-Los Angeles,and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Before the war,Anderson shot industrial films for Douglas Aircraft. His projectsincluded documenting construction of the first B-19 airplane and thecompany's public relations film We Give Them Wings.

He joined his father's company as an optical camera operator duringthe late 1940s. Anderson worked on the original I Love Lucy show andearned Oscar nominations for creating visual effects for Tobrukand Jack the Giant Killer. He and his brother Darrell beganworking with Gene Roddenberry two years before the first episode ofStar Trek aired. The brothers created starfields and invented aphotographic technique that enhanced the illusion of people being"beamed" onto and off the starship Enterprise, and other effectsincluding matte paintings of alien worlds.

Four generations of the Anderson family have worked in the motionpicture industry for more than 80 years, spanning the transitions fromsilent films to "talkies," black and white to color, the evolution oftelevision, and the convergence of film and digital technologies.Howard Anderson Jr.'s son, Howard Anderson III, became president of thecompany in 1993, and his granddaughter, Valerie Anderson, also plays akey management role.

"My father thought he had seen everything during his lifetime withthe advent of the cinema, radio, television, the electric light,locomotives and airplanes," Howard Anderson Jr. says. "I believe thefuture will bring challenges and opportunities that are beyond ourimagination today. No one predicted that DVDs would make films that myfather worked on popular today. The secret is that you have to lovewhat you do, and you have to strive to do it the best that it canpossibly be done. I love what we do and am proud of it."

The ASC was organized by 15 charter members in 1919, a year afterHoward A. Anderson migrated to Los Angeles in search of his destiny inthe motion picture industry. The organization was founded for thepurpose of advancing the art and craft of filmmaking. Today, there are215 active members and another 135 associate members who work inancillary businesses.

For more information about the American Society of Cinematographersor the 18th Annual Outstanding Achievement Awards, visit the ASCwebsite (www.theasc.com) or call323-969-4333.