Ben Burtt



Ben Burtt (born July 12, 1948) was the sound designer for the Star Wars films including others made by Lucasfilm Limited with subsidiary Skywalker Sound. His most famous creations are the sound of the lightsaber and of the speeder bikes as heard in Return of the Jedi. He has created many of the languages heard in Star Wars and has written the Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide.

Burtt has a reputation for including a sound effect dubbed "The Wilhelm scream" in many of the movies he's worked on. Taken from a character named "Wilhelm" in the film Charge at Feather River, the sound can be heard in Star Wars when a stormtrooper falls into a chasm in the Death Star, and in Raiders of the Lost Ark when a Nazi soldier falls from a moving car.

Burtt appeared in two of the Star Wars films as an extra. He appeared in Return of the Jedi (as the Imperial officer Colonel Dyer who yells "Freeze" before Han Solo throws him off a balcony; he utters a Wilhelm scream at that moment) and The Phantom Menace (as Ebenn Q3 Baobab, who appears in the background near the end when Amidala congratulates Palpatine). He also provided the voice for Lushros Dofine in Revenge of the Sith.

Burtt was also heavily involved in writing the animated series Star Wars: Droids, to which the prequel trilogy makes many references.