Frederic Waller (1886 – May 18, 1954) was an American inventor and film pioneer.
Fred Waller
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Fred Waller
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| Born | Frederic Waller 1886 (1886) |
| Died | May 18, 1954(1954-05-18) (aged 67–68) [1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute |
| Employer(s) | Paramount Pictures, Vitarama Corp, Kenyon Instrument Company |
| Known for | Inventor of Cinerama; Inventor of the Waller Gunnery Trainer; first to patent the water ski; made 200 short films for Paramount Pictures |
| Spouses |
Irene Seymour
(m. 1905; div. 1919)
Grace Waller
(m. 1920; her death. 1941)
Doris Barber Caron
(m. 1942; his death. 1954) |
| Children | Stuart, Muriel (both with Irene Seymour) |
| Parent(s) | Frederic Waller, Katherine Stearns |
Waller is most known for his contributions to film special effects while working at Paramount Pictures, for his creation of the Waller Flexible Gunnery Trainer,[2] and for inventing Cinerama,[3] the immersive experience of a curved film screen that extends to the viewer's peripheral vision for which he received an Academy Award. Waller, a snow skiing and boating enthusiast, is also credited with obtaining the first patent for a water ski in 1925.[4] He produced and directed 200 one-reel shorts for Paramount, including Cab Calloway's Hi-De-Ho and Duke Ellington's Symphony in Black. He patented several pieces of photographic equipment, including a camera that could take a 360-degree still photo. As the special projects director for the 1939 New York World's Fair, he collaborated on the fair centerpiece attraction called the Perisphere, the Eastman Kodak Hall of Color, and he developed the Time and Space Building to showcase his creation, Vitarama an 11-projector system projecting onto a half dome sphere and precursor to Cinerama.[5] During World War II the Vitarama Corporation (and Fred Waller) produced a five projector aerial gunnery trainer used by the armed forces. It saved an estimated 350,000 casualties during the war.[6][citation needed]