Patrick M. Griffith, Emmy-Winning Sound Editor, Dies at 60
The Hollywood Reporter
By Mike Barnes
12/9/2015
His lengthy resume included work on hit songs for Air Supply.
Patrick M. Griffith, an Emmy-winning sound editor, died Nov. 23 at his home in Valencia, Calif., after a decade-long struggle with hemochromatosis, his wife, Sylvie, said. He was 60.
At the forefront of sound recording for radio, television and film, Griffith was a pioneer in the field of live concert recordings in the late 1970s, and he helped introduce digital surround sound to TV and movies in the late ’80s.
Griffith won his Emmy in 1998 for serving as supervising sound editor on the National Geographic documentary Rat. Earlier, he received two Golden Reel Awards from the Motion Picture Sound Editors for his work on the HBO series Tales From the Crypt.
Griffith also was the recipient of two gold records as producer of the Air Supply hits “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” and “Late Again” (Live Version) for Arista Records.
Griffith produced the 1980 HBO special Sammy Davis Jr.: The Golden Years and did sound work on dozens of films, including Talk Radio (1988), Jersey Girl (1992), This World, Then the Fireworks (1997) and One Last Ride (2004).
Born in England, Griffith attended the University of Lowell in Massachusetts and received his Masters in broadcasting from Boston University. He then worked with the BBC in London and with the ABC, CBS and RKO radio networks in New York.
In 1982, he relocated to Los Angeles to serve as an associate producer on Rock ’n’ Roll Tonite, a live TV music program.
From 1994-96, Griffith led the design and renovation team of the film and sound departments for the venerable Estudios Churubusco in Mexico City, and he served on the Hearst Castle Preservation Foundation board in San Simeon, Calif., from 1997-2014.
In addition to Sylvie, his wife of 32 years, survivors include their twins Lindsey and Ian and his sister Catherine. Memorial donations for his children may be made at GiveForward.com by Dec. 31.
GRIFFITH, Patrick M.
Born: 1/?/1955, England, U.K.
Died: 11/23/2015, Valencia, California, U.S.A.
Patrick M. Griffith’s westerns – supervising sound editor:
Two-Fisted Tales (TV) - 1992
Uninvited – 1993
Backlash: Oblivion 2 - 1994
The Desperate Trail – 1994