Mark Robson Biography

Fast Facts

• Earned a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to Motion Pictures in 1960
• Died of a heart attack while his last thriller, "Avalanche Express," was still in post-production
• Started work as a part-time assistant set dresser for 20th Century Fox's property department, then started over as an RKO film library clerk after being fired for asking for a promotion
• Moved up from directing low budget horror thrillers to big budget commercial hits after the success of his film noir boxing drama, "Champion․"
• Originated a technique commonly used in horror movies and thrillers called "the bus," in which the camera abruptly cuts from a person's terrified face to a sudden event, in the first cast, a bus stopping violently
• His 1974 film "Earthquake" introduced moviegoers to "Sensurround" a process of adding extended-range bass for sound effects so that they could be felt in addition to heard
• Got his start at RKO by playing golf with an executive from the studio