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Derek Ball is a Sound Mixer British

Derek Ball

Derek Ball
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Nationality United-kingdom
Death 26 july 1988

Derek Ball is a British sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound for the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. He worked on 40 films between 1968 and 1987.

Best films

Star Wars (1977)
(Production Sound Mixer)
Papillon (1973)
(Sound Recordist)
Julia (1977)
(Sound Mixer)
Top Secret! (1984)
(Sound Recordist)
Travels with My Aunt (1972)
(Sound)

Usually with

Jim Abrahams
Jim Abrahams
(1 films)
Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway
(4 films)
David Zucker
David Zucker
(1 films)
George Lucas
George Lucas
(1 films)
Jerry Zucker
Jerry Zucker
(1 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Derek Ball (20 films)

Display filmography as list

Sound

Ordeal by Innocence, 1h30
Directed by Desmond Davis, Alan Birkinshaw
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Thriller, Crime
Actors Donald Sutherland, Faye Dunaway, Christopher Plummer, Michael Elphick, Sarah Miles, Ian McShane
Roles Sound Mixer
Rating51% 2.5534152.5534152.5534152.5534152.553415
Alors qu'il purge sa peine pour le meurtre de sa mère, meurtre qu'il nie en bloc, Jacko Argyle décède en prison. Deux ans après cet évènement, le témoin qui aurait dû lui servir d'alibi apparaît soudainement et veut prouver son innocence. La famille du détenu doit alors faire face à la suspicion, une suspicion qui se pose sur chacun d'eux, et au fait que le vrai meurtrier est encore parmi eux.
Top Secret!, 1h30
Directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Action, Adventure, Spy
Themes Spy films, Films about music and musicians, Politique, Political films
Actors Val Kilmer, Lucy Gutteridge, Omar Sharif, Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Jeremy Kemp
Roles Sound Recordist
Rating71% 3.5990953.5990953.5990953.5990953.599095
Nick Rivers (Kilmer), a United States rock star, has the number one song in America ("Skeet Surfing"). He travels to East Germany to perform at a cultural festival, and at a dinner, he sees the beautiful Hillary Flammond (Gutteridge), a member of the resistance movement, attempting to avoid the authorities. He pretends to be her date to get to know her, and performs an impromptu song and dance ("Tutti-Frutti") mistakenly thinking that he was asked to do so, to the delight of Hillary and the crowd but to the annoyance of the emcee who intended to introduce someone else. He later sees Hillary at a ballet, where she is trying to meet with a resistance contact, but is met by the police instead. Nick saves her and they try to escape, but Nick turns himself in so that Hillary can get away. He is taken to a prison where he is questioned and tortured, but he knows nothing and does not break. In an escape attempt, he ends up in the secret lab of Dr. Paul Flammond (Gough), a brilliant scientist developing the "Polaris naval mine", a device that can destroy the entire NATO submarine fleet; the Germans force him to work by threatening to kill his daughter Hillary. Nick is recaptured and scheduled for execution.
Ordeal by Innocence, 1h30
Directed by Desmond Davis, Alan Birkinshaw
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Thriller, Crime
Actors Donald Sutherland, Faye Dunaway, Christopher Plummer, Brian Glover, Sarah Miles, Cassie Stuart
Roles Sound Mixer
Rating51% 2.5534152.5534152.5534152.5534152.553415
Paleontologist Dr. Arthur Calgary visits the Argyle family to give them an address book that belongs to Jack Argyle. But he is told that Jack has been executed for the murder of his adoptive mother two years ago. But the address book can prove that Jack was innocent, so Dr. Calgary starts the investigation all over.
P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang
Directed by Michael Apted
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Comedy, Romance
Actors Abigail Cruttenden, Alison Steadman, Frances Ruffelle, Robert Urquhart, Peter Dean, Richenda Carey
Roles Sound Recordist
Rating70% 3.5413.5413.5413.5413.541
Alan Duckworth (known as 'Quack Quack' to his friends) is a socially awkward fourteen-year-old who is obsessed with cricket and Ann Lawton, a girl in his class. Alan daydreams throughout his day showing up late for school and making little academic progress. He becomes friends with the groundsman Tommy (Garry Cooper) who he sees as some sort of 'war hero'. Alan often follows Tommy around telling him how Tommy helped to win the war while making predictions about what the world will be like now the war is won. Among other things, Alan predicts there will be no more wars, everyone will speak Esperanto and everyone, regardless of race or creed, will have a Teasmade.
Saturn 3
Saturn 3 (1980)
, 1h28
Directed by Stanley Donen
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Adventure
Themes Space adventure films, Space opera, Robot films
Actors Farrah Fawcett, Kirk Douglas, Harvey Keitel, Roy Dotrice
Roles Sound Mixer
Rating51% 2.551692.551692.551692.551692.55169
In the distant future, an overcrowded Earth relies on research conducted by scientists in remote stations across the solar system. One of these, a small experimental hydroponics research station on Saturn's third moon, is run solely by Adam (Douglas) and his colleague and lover Alex (Fawcett). Adam, the younger Alex and their dog Sally enjoy their isolation, far from an overcrowded and troubled Earth. The couple have been on Saturn 3 for three years, but Alex has spent all her life in space.
The Europeans, 1h30
Directed by James Ivory
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Romance
Actors Lee Remick, Robin Ellis, Wesley Addy, Lisa Eichhorn, Tim Choate, Kristin Griffith
Roles Sound
Rating61% 3.0957553.0957553.0957553.0957553.095755
En 1850, un frère et une sœur, qui ont grandi en Europe, rendent visite à leur oncle et à leurs cousins dans la région de Boston, en Nouvelle Angleterre. La famille est puritaine, le mode de vie un peu bohème des deux jeunes gens surprend. Et l'objet de leur voyage n'est évidemment pas une simple visite de courtoisie.
Escape to Athena, 2h5
Directed by George Cosmatos
Origin United-kingdom
Genres War, Comedy, Action, Adventure
Themes Prison films, Films about sexuality, Erotic films, Films about prostitution, Political films, Erotic thriller films
Actors Roger Moore, Telly Savalas, David Niven, Stefanie Powers, Claudia Cardinale, Richard Roundtree
Roles Sound Mixer
Rating56% 2.800742.800742.800742.800742.80074
In 1944 allied POWs, at a remote POW camp on an unnamed island, are forced to excavate ancient Greek artifacts. The camp Commandant, Major Otto Hecht (Roger Moore), who was an Austrian antiques dealer before the war, is sending some of the valuable pieces to his sister living in Switzerland.
All Quiet on the Western Front, 2h30
Directed by Delbert Mann
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Action, Historical
Themes Political films
Actors Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Ian Holm, Patricia Neal, David Bradley
Roles Sound Mixer
Rating70% 3.5449653.5449653.5449653.5449653.544965
The film follows Paul Baumer, who during World War I enlists in the Imperial German Army with many of his high school friends, after being indoctrinated by their teacher (Donald Pleasence) as to the glory and superiority of German culture. After surviving training camp under the brutal Corporal Himmelstoss (Ian Holm), the young men board a troop train bound for the front lines. Ominously, at the same moment, they notice another train arriving in town loaded with wounded returning soldiers, who are carried off on stretchers. Once at the front lines, they are placed under the supervision of Stanislaus "Kat" Katzinsky, (Ernest Borgnine). Kat teaches them how to best take cover, how to find extra food, and other survival skills.
The Four Feathers, 1h40
Directed by Don Sharp
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War, Adventure
Themes Films set in Africa, Political films
Actors Beau Bridges, Jane Seymour, Robert Powell, Simon Ward, Harry Andrews, Richard Johnson
Roles Sound Mixer
Rating63% 3.1975253.1975253.1975253.1975253.197525
Lieutenant Harry Faversham (Beau Bridges) is the latest scion of a prominent military family. A deeply sensitive boy, he is much traumatised by the early death of his kind-hearted mother. Though he never wants to be a soldier, he feels obliged to join the army. Though no coward (as he will later show), he has no interest in an army career. Having met and become engaged to Ethne, he decides to resign his commission. The fact that war in the Sudan is coming is irrelevant to this decision. During their engagement ball on the final day of his army career, Faversham receives telegrammes summoning him and three of his brother officers (Durrance, Willoughby and Trench) back to the regiment prior to being sent to the Sudan. As determined as ever to leave the army, Faversham burns the telegrammes so that he can pretend not to have been summoned back to the regiment before his commission expires. Willoughby sees him burning papers and notices that he is embarrassed to have been taken by surprise in doing so. On later realising that Faversham was burning the telegrammes from the army, Willoughby assumes that Faversham has done so because he is afraid of going to the Sudan. Durrance, Willoughby and Trench then send Faversham three white feathers, betokening cowardice, and turn their backs on him. When Faversham tries to explain to Eithne what has happened, she also reaches the same mistaken conclusion and gives him a fourth white feather. Following his regiment's deployment, Faversham realizes he has made a grave mistake and, having toyed with suicide, finally resolves to redeem his honour.
Star Wars
Star Wars (1977)
, 2h1
Directed by George Lucas
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Fantastic, Adventure
Themes Space adventure films, Monde imaginaire, Dans l'espace, Sur une planète fictive, Films about extraterrestrial life, Space opera, Children's films, Films about extraterrestrial life, Robot films
Actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Peter Mayhew
Roles Production Sound Mixer
Rating82% 4.1123454.1123454.1123454.1123454.112345
The galaxy is in a civil war, and spies for the Rebel Alliance have stolen plans to the Galactic Empire's Death Star, a heavily armed and armored space station capable of destroying entire planets. Rebel leader Princess Leia is in possession of the plans, but her ship is captured by Imperial forces under the command of the evil Lord Darth Vader. Before she is captured Leia hides the plans in the memory of an astromech droid called R2-D2, along with a holographic recording. The droid, accompanied by fellow protocol droid C-3PO, escape from the captured ship to the desert planet Tatooine.
Julia
Julia (1977)
, 1h58
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Thriller, Biography, Romance
Themes Transport films, Rail transport films, Political films, Children's films
Actors Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards, Hal Holbrook, Rosemary Murphy, Maximilian Schell
Roles Sound Mixer
Rating70% 3.5453753.5453753.5453753.5453753.545375
The young Lillian and her friend Julia, daughter of a wealthy family being brought up by her grandparents in the U.S., enjoy a childhood together and an extremely close relationship in late adolescence. Later, while medical student/physician Julia (Vanessa Redgrave) attends Oxford and the University of Vienna and studies with such luminaries as Sigmund Freud, Lillian (Jane Fonda), a struggling writer, suffers through revisions of her play with her mentor and sometime lover, famed author Dashiell Hammett (Jason Robards) at a beachhouse.
Voyage of the Damned, 2h35
Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War
Themes Seafaring films, Films about religion, Transport films, Political films, Films about Jews and Judaism
Actors Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Lee Grant, Max von Sydow, James Mason, Malcolm McDowell
Roles Sound Recordist
Rating63% 3.1959653.1959653.1959653.1959653.195965
Based on actual events, this film tells the story of the 1939 voyage of the MS St. Louis, which departed from Hamburg carrying 937 Jews from Germany, ostensibly to Havana, Cuba. The passengers, having seen and suffered rising anti-Semitism in Germany, realised this might be their only chance to escape. The film details the emotional journey of the passengers who gradually become aware that their passage was planned as an exercise in propaganda, and that it had never been intended that they disembark in Cuba. Rather, they were to be set up as Pariahs, to set an example before the world. As a Nazi official states in the film, when the whole world has refused to accept them as refugees, no country can blame Germany for the fate of the Jews.
Inserts
Inserts (1975)
, 1h57
Directed by John Byrum
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy
Themes Films about sexuality, Films about pornography
Actors Richard Dreyfuss, Veronica Cartwright, Jessica Harper, Bob Hoskins
Roles Sound Mixer
Rating62% 3.147293.147293.147293.147293.14729
Prior to the opening credits we see portions of the stag film that is shot in the course of the movie. Voices are overheard that make it apparent that men and women are watching this in the present day. At the end a man complains that there was no "Come shot", something that will later develop into a plot point.
The Odessa File, 2h3
Directed by Ronald Neame
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Spy
Themes Films about writers, Spy films, Films about journalists, Political films
Actors Jon Voight, Maximilian Schell, Maria Schell, Derek Jacobi, Peter Jeffrey, Mary Tamm
Roles Sound Recordist
Rating69% 3.4964953.4964953.4964953.4964953.496495
On 22 November 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Peter Miller, a young freelance reporter, pulls over to the curb to listen to a radio report of the event in a district in Hamburg, West Germany. As a result he happens to be stopped at a traffic signal as an ambulance passes by on a highway. He chases the ambulance and discovers it is en route to pick up the body of an elderly Jewish Holocaust survivor who had committed suicide, leaving behind no family. The reporter obtains the diary of the man, which contains information on his life in the Second World War Riga Ghetto, and the name of the SS officer who ran the camp, Eduard Roschmann.
Papillon
Papillon (1973)
, 2h5
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Biography, Action, Adventure, Crime
Themes Seafaring films, Prison films, Transport films, Évasion
Actors Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory, Don Gordon, Bill Mumy, George Coulouris
Roles Sound Recordist
Rating79% 3.9988053.9988053.9988053.9988053.998805
1930's France. Henri Charrière (Steve McQueen), a safecracker nicknamed Papillon because of the butterfly tattoo on his chest, is wrongly convicted of murdering a pimp, he is being framed for the crime. He is sentenced to life imprisonment within the penal system in French Guiana. En route, he meets a fellow convict, Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman), a forger and embezzler who is convinced that his wife will secure his release. Dega hires Papillon as his bodyguard, but the two eventually develop a friendship.