Steve Maslow heard movies the way the rest of us could only hope to. The three-time Academy Award-winning sound mixer, known to everyone in the industry as “Maz,” died Monday at a therapy facility in West Hills following a battle with cancer. He was 81.
Born in Los Angeles on October 17, 1944, Maslow found his way into sound through music, working as a roadie for psychedelic rock outfit Strawberry Alarm Clock before engineering recordings for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, among others. When the music industry shifted, Maslow pivoted to film, and the results were immediate. His first Oscar nomination came quickly, and his first win followed on the back of two of the most consequential films ever made.
Maslow took home back-to-back Academy Awards for The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, then added a third for Speed in 1995. Seven total Oscar nominations across a career that touched more than 200 films, nearly 130 of them alongside his long-running creative partner Gregg Landaker, a partnership that began with Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. Maslow specialized in dialogue and music, Landaker in sound effects, and together they helped define how blockbuster cinema sounds.
The breadth of his filmography is staggering. He worked with John Carpenter on Escape From New York, The Thing, and Starman. He worked with Tim Burton on Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Batman Returns. His credits also include Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Broadcast News, The Naked Gun, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Stop Making Sense, a career that crossed every genre and generation without ever losing its standard of excellence.
“We lost one of the best of the best,” wrote 16-time Oscar-nominated sound mixer Greg P. Russell on Instagram. “Anytime he ever walked onto a stage I was mixing on, he’d walk over to me and lean on my shoulder and say, ‘You’re not gonna leave it like that, are ya?’ Loved to laugh with him.” Maslow is survived by his wife Ronna, his son Travis, and a granddaughter. He was 81.