The Cinema Audio Society will honor multiple CAS and Oscar® nominated production sound mixer Lee Orloff, CAS with its highest accolade, the CAS Career Achievement Award, to be presented at the 55th CAS Awards on Saturday, February 16, 2019, at the Intercontinental Los Angeles Downtown.

CAS president Mark Ulano said, “Lee is a world-renowned production sound mixer with a portfolio of over 75 films. His combined CAS, Oscar© and BAFTA nominations total 17, resulting in both an Oscar© and a BAFTA.  He is one of the go-to production sound mixers as evidenced by his collaborations on multiple films with directors James Cameron, Michael Mann, Walter Hill, Gore Verbinski, to name a few.   He is well-respected and gracious in sharing his knowledge and in mentoring the next generation of sound professionals and I take great pleasure in announcing the CAS’ recognition of my friend and colleague Lee and his body of work.”

Following a two-year stint managing an equipment rental house’s sound department, native New Yorker Orloff, newly graduated from NYU Film School, set out with his employee discounted recording gear to begin a decade of work primarily in documentaries. In 1984 he mixed his first feature, Joel and Ethan Coen’s crime thriller debut, “Blood Simple.” By the late 80’s, he’d moved to Hollywood on the heels of an Oscar nomination for director Cameron’s underwater drama, “The Abyss”, the first of three collaborations, including “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” and “True Lies”. Following the design/build of communications systems necessitated for “The Abyss” production, Orloff received an opportunity to work with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, which was undertaking a live action version of the hit animated series, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Orloff was one of the earliest proponents of the now universally accepted higher resolution, multitrack digital recording, utilizing it on the 1993 film, “Last Action Hero”. 

During the past 35 years Orloff has participated in over 75 feature films, enjoying successful working relationships with many of Hollywood’s most notable directors. In some cases, their collaborations have spanned 20 years, such as with directors Mann and Hill. Verbinski has relied on Orloff’s expertise on eight of his films, two of which, in “The Pirates of the Caribbean” series, resulted in Oscar nominations for Orloff and his team, and on “Rango”, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film in 2012. 

Filmmakers have counted on Orloff and his team’s versatility to deliver needed results on a diverse range of projects ranging from three films in the “Pitch Perfect” musical series, HBO’s “Westworld” Season One, to “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp” for Marvel Studios. Some of these filmmakers include: Hill, Mann, Cameron, Verbinski, Elizabeth Banks, JC Chandor, Martha Coolidge, Roland Emmerich, James Gunn, James Mangold, Jonathan Nolan, Dean Parisot, Todd Phillips, Peyton Reed, Ridley Scott, Wim Wenders, and Rupert Wyatt.

Orloff has been nominated six times for the CAS award for “True Lies” (1994), “Heat” (1995), “The Patriot” (2000), “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003), “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2006), and “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (2011).

An Oscar winner for “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991), Orloff has received six Academy Award nominations for “The Abyss” (1989), “Geronimo: An American Legend” (1993), “The Insider” (1999), “The Patriot” (2000), “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003), and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2006).

He received the BAFTA award for “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” and was the recipient of three BAFTA nominations for “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003), “Collateral” (2004), and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2006).

Orloff joins an illustrious group of past CAS Career Achievement honorees that includes: Anna Behlmer, John Pritchett, Doc Kane, David MacMillan, Andy Nelson, Chris Newman, Scott Millan, Jeffrey S. Wexler, Randy Thom, Dennis Sands, Ed Greene, Mike Minkler, Willie Burton, Gary Rydstrom, Charles Wilborn, Jim Webb, Richard Portman, Tomlinson Holman, Les Fresholtz, Walter Murch, and Don Rogers,