'Star Trek,' 'Tron' Award-Winning Sound Engineer Frank Serafine Dies at 65

Sound engineer and composer Frank Serafine has passed away. Serafine had a respected and varied career in Hollywood, working on many properties including the Star Trek and Tron franchises. He was 65.

The Antelope Valley Times reported Serafine's death on Wednesday. Serafine was struck by a motorist on Palmdale Boulevard in California. The driver was uninjured. So far, it is unclear if the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Here's additional information from the new release put out by the Palmdale Sheriff's Station:

"The preliminary facts of this investigation indicate a silver 2014 Audi driven by a male in his 20s was traveling westbound on Palmdale Boulevard in the No. 2 lane. The driver of the Audi collided with a pedestrian mid-block, between 12th and 15th Street East. The pedestrian was standing near the driver's side of his parked vehicle," the news release states. It is not known at this time if drugs or alcohol [were] a factor."

Serafine was pronounced dead at the scene.

Serafine began his career in film in the 1970s. He worked as a sound engineer on 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture and 1984's Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. He also worked on Tron in 1982 and Tron: Legacy 2010.

Serafine won an Academy Award in 1990 for his work on The Hunt for Red October. Other works include Field of Dreams, Manhunter, The Fog, Poltergeist: The Other Side, RobotJox, Ice Pirates, Hoodwinked 2, Orgazmo, The Lawnmower Man, Virtuosity, and The Addams Family.

Serafine worked on hundreds of television episodes and commercials. He won an Emmy award for the 1983 telefilm The Day After.

Serafine's career also crossed over into video games. He worked on the original Grand Theft Auto, which released in 1997. He also worked on The TRON video game, Wing Commander, Interstate '76, Disney's Pocahontas video game and the 2004's The Suffering.

Serafine produced, designed, and constructed Disney's interactive museum exhibit for Marvel's Avengers STATION, which is currently open at Treasure Island Las Vegas and was previously featured at the Discovery New York Times Square building. His also did theme attraction work for Six Flags, Busch Gardens, Ford Museum, Disney's Epcot Center, Iwerks, Universal, and Sony.

[H/T] io9