Herbert Kalmus

Herbert Thomas Kalmus (November 9, 1881 to July 11, 1963) was an American scientist and engineer who played a significant role in developing color motion picture film, and who co-founded and served as president of the Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation. Trained as a scientist, Kalmus turned his technical background toward the practical problem of bringing color to motion pictures at a time when the industry relied on black-and-white photography and hand-tinting, and the company he co-founded became the dominant color process supplier to Hollywood studios for decades, developing successive Technicolor processes that improved color fidelity and simplified production. His leadership of Technicolor placed him at the center of the technical side of the film industry's transition to color, an industrialist and engineer whose company's name became synonymous with vivid studio-era color cinematography. Kalmus was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and died in Los Angeles, California.