Petro Vlahos

Petro Vlahos
Vlahos accepting his second Oscar, c. 1993
Born(1916-08-20)August 20, 1916
DiedFebruary 10, 2013(2013-02-10) (aged 96)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of California at Berkeley
OccupationSpecial effects engineer

Petro Vlahos (Greek: Πέτρος Βλάχος; August 20, 1916 February 10, 2013) was an American engineer and inventor, considered to be one of the pioneering scientific and technical innovators of the motion picture and television industries. He is remembered in particular for creating the Ultimatte process, which refined the colour process known as chroma keying (i.e. "bluescreening"). In recognition of his contributions, he was awarded multiple Oscars, as well as an Emmy Award.