Biography
Murray Spivack (1903–1994) was a Russian-born American sound engineer and music mixer who worked in Hollywood for more than four decades. He began his career as a professional drummer in New York before moving to Los Angeles in 1929, where he headed the sound-effects department at RKO and later worked extensively at 20th Century Fox.
Spivack is best known for creating the sound effects for King Kong (1933) and for his contributions as a scoring mixer or sound recordist on numerous films, including Laura (1944), Spartacus (1960), West Side Story (1961), My Fair Lady (1964), The Sound of Music (1965) and Patton (1970). He shared an Academy Award for Best Sound for Hello, Dolly! (1969) and received a further nomination for Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). He was also a noted percussion teacher whose students included Louie Bellson, Joe Morello and David Garibaldi.
