Bud Browne, Father of Surf-Film Genre, Dies at 96

[TaoJones]

Bud Browne, known as "Barracuda" for his affinity with the water, and famous in the world of surfing as the first to capture stunning surfing footage on film, died in his sleep last Friday at his home in San Luis Obispo. He was 96.

Here's the obit in today's Los Angeles Times:

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"Bud Browne, 96; father of surf-film genre


Alexander Gallardo / Los Angeles Times

"Bud Browne, known as 'the father of surf films,' began shooting footage on 8- and 16-millimeter cameras in the late 1940s. He screened his first film, the 45-minute-long Hawaiian Surfing Movies, in California beach towns in 1953. Admission cost 65 cents.


"By Dennis McLellan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

"July 29, 2008

"Bud Browne, a onetime Venice Beach lifeguard who became known as 'the father of surf films' after he began showing his 16-millimeter surf movies commercially up and down the California coast in the early 1950s, has died. He was 96.

"Browne died in his sleep Friday at his home in San Luis Obispo, said his close friend Anna Trent Moore, daughter of surfing legend Buzzy Trent.


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• Photos: Bud Browne | 1912 - 2008

" 'Bud created the genre of surf films,' Steve Pezman, publisher of the Surfer's Journal, told The Times on Monday. 'What was unique about Bud and his films was the water footage, and the fact that he lived with the surfers he was filming.'

" 'All those surfers actually just loved the guy, and he was a great athlete himself.'

"A former captain of the USC swim team who learned to surf while working as a lifeguard at Venice Beach in 1938, Browne bought an 8-millimeter movie camera two years later and began making home movies of his fellow surfers."

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For the entire obituary, go to:

Bud Browne, 96; father of surf-film genre - Los Angeles Times

TaoJones

[surfingminniwinni]

Farewell Bud!
I remember as a kid here in Australia lining up to see his movies, they together with the wilson brothers music, changed my life forever. I have devoted my life to the sea because of the effect they had on me.