Jim Houston Dies: Engineer And Two-Time Oscar Winner Was 61

Jim Houston, a senior engineer who held senior engineering positions with several studios and prominent post-production facilities in Hollywood, has died from a heart attack in Pasadena. He was 61.

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) Hollywood Section said Houston died on Thursday, March 26. Houston was a long-time member of the SMPTE and a 34-year veteran of the entertainment industry.

“Jim made a profound impact on SMPTE and the industry in general,” Brian Gaffney, SMPTE Hollywood Section chair, said in a statement. “He was a founding member of the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) committee. He wrote influential papers of topics ranging from the color fidelity of High Dynamic Range images to design considerations for cinemas using laser projection. He attended every industry technical and social event and was a constant presence in the community. He will be missed, and his legacy will last forever in Hollywood.”

Houston was a pioneer in motion imaging standards, computer animation and digital restoration, having worked for Sony Pictures Entertainment, Pacific Title and Art, Walt Disney Feature Animation and, most recently, Samsung Research America.

He won two Academy Awards for Scientific and Engineering Achievement.

Houston was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Cornell University. He began his career with Gould Computer Systems and worked at NASA’s Ames Research Center before getting his start in Hollywood as a technical director with Walt Disney Feature Animation in 1986.

In 1992, he won an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) Scientific and Engineering Award as part of the team that developed the CAPS (Computer Animation Production System), used for film animation. A second Academy award came in 2007 for his contributions to the Rosetta process used in digital restoration.

In 2014, he was awarded SMPTE’s Technicolor/Herbert T. Kalmus Award for leadership and contributions in the application of digital technologies to motion picture production processes. He served as co-chair of AMPAS’ ACES Project Committee and was a member of its Science and Technology Council.

He is survived by his mother, Margaret Houston, and his siblings John, Michael, Martin, Kevin and Cathy, and their families.

Funeral services will be held in Philadelphia. A memorial service will be scheduled for later this year in Los Angeles.