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Douglas Shearer

Douglas Shearer

Sound

Biography

Douglas Graham Shearer (November 17, 1899 – January 5, 1971) was a Canadian-American pioneering sound designer and recording director who played a key role in the advancement of sound technology for motion pictures. He won seven Academy Awards for his work. In 2008, he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Douglas began his journey into cinema by studying experimental electricity at Northern Electric Company before joining MGM in 1925. Initially exploring lighting and cameras, he pivoted to sound when the era of sound pictures emerged in 1928. He pioneered synchronizing musical soundtracks with film scenes, notably in the groundbreaking "The Broadway Melody," which won the 1929 Oscar for Best Picture. As head of MGM's sound department until his retirement, Shearer revolutionized sound recording, winning an Academy Award for Best Sound Recording for "The Big House." His groundbreaking work at MGM significantly enhanced the technical aspects of filmmaking. His legacy was recognized even in death, receiving a front-page obituary in The New York Times—an honour typically reserved for industry giants and heads of state.

Known For

The Wizard of Oz
7.6

Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives. The Wicked Witch of the West is the only thing that could stop them.

The Wizard of Oz

1939
Singin' in the Rain
8.1

In 1927 Hollywood, a silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his paranoid screen partner struggle to make the difficult transition to talking pictures.

Singin' in the Rain

1952
Grand Hotel
7.0

Guests at a posh Berlin hotel struggle through worry, scandal, and heartache.

Grand Hotel

1932
Freaks
7.8

A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.

Freaks

1932
Gaslight
7.5

A newlywed fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.

Gaslight

1944
The Shop Around the Corner
8.1

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

The Shop Around the Corner

1940
Angels in the Outfield
7.0

The short-tempered manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates mends his ways in return for a little divine assistance.

Angels in the Outfield

1951
Little Women
7.4

Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.

Little Women

1949
Quo Vadis
7.1

After fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero.

Quo Vadis

1951
The Women
7.2

A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.

The Women

1939
The Philadelphia Story
7.6

When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.

The Philadelphia Story

1940
Operator 13
5.9

American Civil War, 1862. After the disaster of the Second Battle of Bull Run, Major Allen, chief of the Secret Service of the Union, asks actress Gail Loveless to become one of his operators and infiltrate enemy territory.

Operator 13

1934
Tarzan the Ape Man
6.6

James Parker and Harry Holt are on an expedition in Africa in search of the elephant burial grounds that will provide enough ivory to make them rich. Parker's beautiful daughter Jane arrives unexpectedly to join them. Jane is terrified when Tarzan and his ape friends abduct her, but when she returns to her father's expedition she has second thoughts about leaving Tarzan.

Tarzan the Ape Man

1932
Waterloo Bridge
7.5

On the eve of World War II, a British officer revisits Waterloo Bridge and recalls the young man he was at the beginning of World War I and the young ballerina he met just before he left for the front.

Waterloo Bridge

1940
An American in Paris
7.0

Jerry Mulligan is an exuberant American expatriate in Paris trying to make a reputation as a painter. His friend Adam is a struggling concert pianist who's a long time associate of a famous French singer, Henri Baurel. A lonely society woman, Milo Roberts, takes Jerry under her wing and supports him, but is interested in more than his art.

An American in Paris

1951
Julius Caesar
7.1

The growing ambition of Julius Caesar is a source of major concern to his close friend Brutus. Cassius persuades him to participate in his plot to assassinate Caesar but both have sorely underestimated Mark Antony.

Julius Caesar

1953
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
7.1

In 1850 Oregon, when a backwoodsman brings a wife home to his farm, his six brothers decide that they want to get married too.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

1954
Mrs. Miniver
7.1

Middle-class housewife Kay Miniver deals with petty problems. She and her husband Clem watch her Oxford-educated son Vin court Carol Beldon, the charming granddaughter of the local nobility as represented by Lady Beldon. Then the war comes and Vin joins the RAF.

Mrs. Miniver

1942
The Postman Always Rings Twice
7.1

A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.

The Postman Always Rings Twice

1946
Father of the Bride
7.0

Proud father Stanley Banks remembers the day his daughter, Kay, got married. Starting when she announces her engagement through to the wedding itself, we learn of all the surprises and disasters along the way.

Father of the Bride

1950