You are here: MaxAbout.com > People

Herbert Kalmus

Personal Profile

Herbert Kalmus
  • Birth Name:
    Herbert Thomas Kalmus
  • Date of Birth:
    November 9, 1881
  • Zodiac Sign:
    Scorpio
  • Place of Birth:
    Chelsea, Massachusetts
  • Place of Death:
    Los Angeles, California
  • Date of Death:
    July 11, 1963
  • Sex:
    Male
  • Nationality:
    American
  • Education:
    University of Zurich

Family

Herbert Kalmus
  • Spouse:
    Eleanore King (Deceased), Natalie Kalmus
  • Daughter:
    Cammie King

Career

Herbert Kalmus

Trivia

Herbert Kalmus
  • He earned his doctorate at the University of Zurich, then taught physics, electrochemistry and metallurgy at MIT and Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
  • He received a bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1904; the "Tech" in Technicolor is partly a tribute to that school.
  • Kalmus was the co-founder and president of the The Technicolor Corporation.
  • He has a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California.
  • Kalmus Beach in Hyannis, Massachusetts, is also named after him.
  • Herbert Thomas Kalmus was an American Scientist.
  • Herbert Kalmus was married to Natalie Kalmus, whose name appears as "color coordinator" in the credits of virtually every live-action Technicolor feature released from 1934 to 1949.
  • When the firm was hired to analyze an inventor's flicker-free motion picture system, they became intrigued with the art and science of filmmaking, particularly color motion picture processes, leading to the incorporation of Technicolor in 1915.
  • In 1912, Kalmus and fellow MIT graduate Daniel Comstock formed Kalmus, Comstock, and Wescott, an industrial research and development firm, with mechanic W. Burton Wescott, who left the company in 1921.
  • Was a physics professor at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 1910-1915 where he did his initial research on the Technicolor process.

Biography

Herbert Kalmus
Last Updated: Monday, August 03, 2009
Herbert Kalmus was born on November 9, 1881 in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He graduated from M.I.T., and then got his PhD. from U. of Zurich. He formed his company, "Technicolor Company", in 1912, when he was a still a professor at the Canadian school. He incorporated in 1915; and in 1917, made the first color film [the two-color process], "The Gulf Between". It was a 'one-reeler', and it super-imposed figures on a background. He made the first full-length, real 'two-color' movie in 1926; "The Black Pirate". The first Three-Color Process movie was, "Becky Sharp", made in 1935. Dr.Kalmus' first wife, Natalie, was always on set interfering with the director, but after the patent ran out in 1949, she 'disappeared', only to reappear as a 'consultant' to a TV cabinet company! Ironically, she divorced Dr. Kalmus in 1921-22, but they lived together until 1944! He passed away in 1963, she, in 1965.

Submit Content