CAS Special Award Recipient, Television Academy chair, and Emmy Award-winning sound designer Leo Chaloukian passed away this July at the age of 97. Having started his career at Ryder Sound Service in 1954, Leo eventually bought the company from Loren Ryder in 1976. Leo and the company worked on television projects such as Lassie and Gunsmoke, and oversaw sound design for films such as The Graduate and Easy Rider. 1986 saw the Ryder team winning a Best Sound Emmy for Cross of Fire and Oscar for Platoon.
In addition to his sound design and mixing work, Leo pushed for more recognition for the craft of sound and served for decades on boards of the Motion Picture Academy and the Television Academy, and was appointed to the California Film Commission in 1988. Also in 1988, the Cinema Audio Society recognized Leo’s contributions to the sound industry with their Special Award along with a lifetime honorary membership.
Leo Chaloukian’s dedication to our industry is difficult to quantify. To read more about Leo’s life, please visit the Television Academy’s detailed remembrance at https://www.emmys.com/news/online-originals/leo-chaloukian-history