Beloved Film Sound Designer Killed In LA Crash

PALMDALE, CA -- Hollywood's technical community is mourning the death of sound designer Frank Serafine, who was struck and killed by a vehicle in Palmdale on Wednesday. The 65-year-old entertainment industry veteran was part of a team that won and Emmy for sound editing of the 1983 TV film "The Day After."

He also worked on sound design, editing and composing for films including "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," "TRON," "The Hunt for Red October" and "Field of Dreams," among others.

Serafine worked on several video game projects as well and music collaborations with performers including George Harrison, Ravi Shankar and Peter Gabriel.

"Enthusiastic, explorer, a teacher, lover of sound, Frank was all these things," family friend and colleague Brandon Schultz posted at Variety.com. "Frank brought sound and joy and laughter into our world. Beyond his impressive credits, Frank was one of the pioneers of digital audio post- production. His curiosity and innovative approaches never waned. He beta tested and consulted professionally with Apple and later Adobe. Frank was a mench and generous to a fault. He will be truly missed."

In another Variety.com post, NPR reporter Bob Fleck recalled interviewing Serafine several years ago.
"I had the pleasure of interviewing Frank for a feature piece on NPR's Saturday Arts Show ...," Fleck posted. "Frank was immensely talented, gracious and total fun to interview. The world is less for his loss."

Serafine was struck at 11:35 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12 by a silver 2014 Audi on Palmdale Boulevard between 12th and 15th streets East. At the time, he was standing next to his parked 2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser and the impact threw him into the air and onto the pavement. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The other driver, a man in his 20s, stopped at the scene, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies.
It was not clear whether any charges were filed.

--City News Service/Shutterstock image