Steve Maslow, the distinguished re-recording mixer who received seven Academy Award nominations for Best Sound The Empire strikes back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and speedHe died. He was 81 years old.
Maslow died Monday at a treatment facility in West Hills after a battle with cancer, said Ronna Maslow, Maslow’s wife. Hollywood Reporter.
The Los Angeles native has also received Academy Award nominations for his work Sand dunes (1984), Water world (1995), Hurricane (1996) and U-571 (2000).
Maslow performed more than 200 productions during his career, collaborating with fellow musician Greg Landaker on more than 130 of them, starting with Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). He specialized in dialogue and music while Landacre focused on sound effects, sharing all but one of his Oscar nominations Sand dunes.
“Maz” also collaborated with John Carpenter Escape from New York (1981), Halloween II (1981), The thing (1982), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Christine (1983), Starman (1984) and Escape from Los Angeles (1996) and with Tim Burton Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Batman returns (1992).
Maslow was born on October 17, 1944. His father worked for the toy company Mattel and his mother was a legal secretary. After graduating from Grant High School, as a roadie in 1969 he joined the band Strawberry Alarm Clock, providing the sound for the psychedelic rock band’s hit with “Incense and Peppermint.”
“That opened up the whole music industry for me,” he said in 2017. As a recording engineer, he worked as a recording engineer on songs including “Oh What a Night (December 1963)” from Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and “Boogie Oogie Oogie” from A Taste of Honey.
With the rise of garage bands and the music industry relying less on studios, Maslow looked for an opportunity to become a filmmaker.
He became involved in the field of cinema and worked on four films released in 1978, including a documentary The last waltzThis was followed by other musical films, including: hair (1979), The kids are fine (1979), Rust never sleeps (1979) and Stop thinking (1984).
Before he knew it, Maslow was working with producer George Lucas More American Graffiti (1979), The Empire strikes back (1980) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and won Academy Awards in successive years.
Also included is a fascinating film biography of Maslow Hikers (1979), 10 (1979), Ordinary people (1980), The postman always rings twice (1981), Dead men don’t wear plaid (1982), My favorite year (1982), Dead zone (1983), St. Elmo Fire (1985), Teen Wolf (1985), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), The youngest sons of God (1986), Angel heart (1987), Broadcast news (1987), The Naked Gun: From the Police Squad Files! (1988), Pet school (1989), Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), Patch Adams (1998), Bruce Almighty (2003), 40 year old virgin (2005), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Rocky Balboa (2006), City (2010), The Great Gatsby (2013), Sorcery (2013), Without stopping (2014) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). There are too many films to mention.
In addition to his wife, survivors include his son, Travis, and his granddaughter.
“We have lost one of the best of the best, and many who loved him are grieving today,” 16-time Academy Award-nominated sound mixer Greg P. Russell wrote on Instagram. “You will be missed, my friend, and thanks for all the memories. Anytime he would get on stage where I was mingling, he would walk up to me, lean on my shoulder and say, ‘You wouldn’t leave it like that, would you????’. I loved laughing with him.”
