Ben Burtt

Ben Burtt (77)

1948-07-12 | Jamesville, New York, USA

Benjamin "Ben" Burtt, Jr. is a sound designer, film editor, director, screenwriter, and voice actor. He has worked as sound designer on various films, including the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film series, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, WALL-E, and Star Trek. He is responsible for creating many of the iconic sound effects heard in the Star Wars film franchise, including the binary speech of R2-D2, the lightsaber hum, the sound of the blaster guns, and the heavy-breathing sound of Darth Vader, which he made by breathing into a scuba regulator. Burtt has a reputation for popularizing a sound effect dubbed the "Wilhelm scream", which was taken from a character named Wilhelm in the 1953 film The Charge at Feather River.

On Movies

  • BURN·E
  • WALL·E
  • R2-D2: Beneath the Dome
  • Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
  • Return of the Jedi

Movies as Director

NextFilm 2025