Petro Vlahos

Name: Petro Vlahos

Born: August 20, 1916

Death: February 10, 2013 (Age: 96)

Computer-related contributions

• Hollywood special effects pioneer.
• Refined the color-difference bluescreen process for the Motion Picture Research Council.
• Founded the Ultimatte Corporation in Chatsworth, California, in 1976.

Honors and awards

• Received the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for the use of the bluescreen process in the 1940 film The Thief of Bagdad.
• Won an Oscar in 1964 for the "conception and perfection of techniques for color traveling matte composite cinematography.
• Won an Emmy Award for Ultimatte Compositing Technology (1978).
• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Medal of Commendation (1992).
• Gordon E. Sawyer Award (1993).