Russell Shearman

Russell Morrison Shearman (April 27, 1908 – May 5, 1956) was an American special effects artist.

Russell Shearman
Born(1908-04-27)April 27, 1908
Portland, Oregon
DiedMay 5, 1956(1956-05-05) (aged 48)
off the coast of Cuba
Occupationspecial effects artist.
Years active1946-1956

He won a Technical Achievement Award at the 19th Academy Awards in 1946 along with Marty Martin and Jack Lannan of the RKO Radio Studio Special Effects Dept. for the development of a new method of simulating falling snow on motion picture sets for It's a Wonderful Life. The film won just the one Academy Award, in the Technical Achievement category for developing a new method of creating artificial snow.

Before It's a Wonderful Life, fake movie snow was mostly made from cornflakes painted white and it was so loud when stepped on that any snow-filled scenes with dialogue had to be re-dubbed afterwards. RKO studio's head of special effects, Russell Sherman, developed a new compound, utilizing water, soap flakes, foamite and sugar.

He won an Academy Award during the 21st Academy Awards for Best Special Effects. He won for the film Portrait of Jennie. He shared his win with Paul Eagler, Charles L. Freeman, Joseph McMillan Johnson, Clarence Slifer and James G. Stewart.[1]

Filmography

Death

According to an entry in a shark attack database (attributed to the Australian surgeon and shark attack enthusiast Sir Victor Coppleson), Russell Shearman allegedly died from a shark attack while filming underwater scenes for The Sharkfighters in the Caribbean Sea off Cuba.[2] However, his obituary in the Los Angeles Times states that he died by electrocution while repairing equipment. [3]

References
  1. "The 21st Academy Awards (1949) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  2. http://sharkattackfile.net/spreadsheets/pdf_directory/1956.05.07-Shearman.pdf
  3. "Russell Shearman obit". The Los Angeles Times. 8 May 1956. p. 34.


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