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'''Howard Alvin Anderson Jr.''' <small>[[American Society of Cinematographers|ASC]]</small> (March 31, 1920 – September 27, 2015),<ref name=ves>{{cite web|url=https://www.visualeffectssociety.com/members/memoriam/howard-anderson-jr-asc|title=Howard A. Anderson, Jr., ASC - RIP|publisher=Visual Effects Society|accessdate=2015-10-30|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304093312/https://www.visualeffectssociety.com/members/memoriam/howard-anderson-jr-asc|url-status=dead}}</ref> was an American visual effects artist and cinematographer specializing in photographic effects, titles and [[special effects|opticals]]. A pioneer of [[visual effects]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2004/film/awards/howard-anderson-1117899543/|title=Howard Anderson|work=Variety|date=5 February 2004 |accessdate=2015-10-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theasc.com/asc_news/News_Articles/News_118.php|title=Visual Effects Wizard Richard Edlund Receives ASC Tribute|publisher=American Society of Cinematographers|accessdate=2015-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309101814/http://www.theasc.com/asc_news/News_Articles/News_118.php|archive-date=2016-03-09|url-status=dead}}</ref> he was one of the effects artists on ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-25 |title=Remembering Howard A. Anderson, 1920-2015 |url=https://www.startrek.com/news/remembering-howard-a-anderson-1920-2015 |access-date=2024-10-09 |website=www.startrek.com |language=en}}</ref> and created the [[title sequence]]s for hundreds of the most popular television series between the early 1950s and late 1980s, including ''[[I Love Lucy]]'', ''[[The Untouchables (1959 TV series)|The Untouchables]]'', ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'', ''[[Happy Days]]'', ''[[Kung Fu (1972 TV series)|Kung Fu]]'', and ''[[Cheers]]''.<ref name=archive>{{cite web|url=http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/howard-anderson-jr#|title=Howard Anderson, Jr. Interview|publisher=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Archive of American Television|accessdate=2015-10-30}}</ref> He also provided titles and effects on such films as ''[[Some Like It Hot]]'', ''[[The Apartment]]'',<ref name=archive/> ''[[Jack the Giant Killer (1962 film)|Jack the Giant Killer]]'', ''[[Tobruk (1967 film)|Tobruk]]'', ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'', and ''[[Superman (1978 film)|Superman]]''.<ref name=asc>{{cite web|url=http://www.theasc.com/asc_news/News_Articles/News_100.php|title=Anderson, Jr. to Receive Award from TV Academy|publisher=American Society of Cinematographers|accessdate=2015-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305044207/http://www.theasc.com/asc_news/News_Articles/News_100.php|archive-date=2016-03-05|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Early life and career ==
Anderson was born in [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], on March 31, 1920, the son of Minerva Ayling and Howard Alvin Anderson. He grew up in [[Culver City, California]], where his younger brother, Darrell Addison Anderson, was born in 1921. His father was a Hollywood special effects photographer who pioneered the emerging art of visual effects when he created the lightning, flood and storm effects for [[Cecil B. DeMille]]'s epic silent film ''[[The King of Kings (1927 film)|The King of Kings]]'', released in 1927. That year, he founded the Howard Anderson Special Photographic Effects Company, where Anderson Jr. began working part-time in the 1930s, still in his pre-teens.<ref name=asc/><ref name=archive/><ref name=trek>{{cite web|url=http://www.startrek.com/database_article/anderson|title=Star Trek - Anderson, Howard A.|publisher=StarTrek.com|accessdate=2015-10-30}}</ref>

By age 10, Anderson had become what he later called a "Navy enthusiast," and he joined the [[U.S. Navy Reserve]] while in high school. He began attending [[Alexander Hamilton High School (Los Angeles)|Alexander Hamilton High School]] in 1934 and transferred to [[Hollywood High School]] the following year, graduating in 1938. He enrolled in [[UCLA]], where he studied mathematics and joined the university's [[Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps]] program. He found work shooting industrial films for the [[Douglas Aircraft Company]], including a documentary on the construction of the [[Douglas XB-19]], and the company's public-relations film ''We Give Them Wings''. In 1943, he began serving in the [[U.S. Navy]], primarily as a still photographer and a cameraman on training films.<ref name=archive/>

== Career ==
=== Television ===
After returning from naval service in 1946, Anderson began working at his father's company with his father and brother. Some of the early shows he worked on were ''[[The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show]]'', ''[[Dragnet (1951 TV series)|Dragnet]]'', ''[[The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet]],'' and ''[[Hopalong Cassidy]]''. In 1954, the Anderson brothers took over the company from their father.<ref name=archive/><ref name=legacy>{{cite web|url=http://memorialwebsites.legacy.com/howardandersonjr/homepage.aspx?referrer=2836&fhid=10927|title=Howard A "Great Papa" Anderson [obituary]|publisher=Legacy.com|accessdate=2015-10-30}}</ref>

During the 1950s and '60s, Anderson helped create [[title sequence]]s and other visual elements for many of the programs made by [[Desi Arnaz]] and [[Lucille Ball]]'s [[Desilu Productions]], including ''[[I Love Lucy]]'', ''[[The Lucy Show]]'', ''[[The Untouchables (1959 TV series)|The Untouchables]]'', ''[[Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series)|Mission: Impossible]]'', and ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]''. According to an interview of Howard by The Television Academy Foundation, Anderson’s studio handled the optical photography and post-production of the ‘heart on satin’ titles for syndicated rebroadcasts of I Love Lucy. The original heart design and typography were created by Verdun Philip Cook, an African American typographer and animator who collaborated with Desilu Productions during the show’s original run.<ref name=archive/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Philip-Michael Weiner |url=https://designers.org/!222824 |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Designers.org |language=en}}</ref>

On ''Star Trek''; in addition to creating the show's title sequence, he and his brother were one of four visual effects teams on the series. They began working with ''Star Trek'' creator [[Gene Roddenberry]] in 1964 to develop effects for the show's first pilot, "[[The Cage (Star Trek)|The Cage]]", and continued on the series throughout its three seasons. Among the iconic visuals they created were the star fields through which the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS ''Enterprise'']] cruised, the photographic method for the illusion of people being [[Transporter (Star Trek)|transported]] or "beamed" to and from the ship, and [[matte painting]]s and other effects for the various alien worlds seen in the show.<ref name=archive/><ref name=trek/>

Anderson helped create the title sequences for ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'', which featured the show's nine cast members in a tic-tac-toe board—a sequence which Anderson himself shot. He also helped create the title sequences for ''[[The Addams Family (1964 TV series)|The Addams Family]]'', ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'', ''[[The Beverly Hillbillies]]'', ''[[Daniel Boone (1964 TV series)|Daniel Boone]]'', ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]'', ''[[The Fugitive (1963 TV series)|The Fugitive]]'', ''[[Get Smart]]'', ''[[I Spy (1965 TV series)|I Spy]]'', ''[[The Invaders]]'', ''[[The Mod Squad]]'', ''[[My Favorite Martian]]'', ''[[My Three Sons]]'', ''[[The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)|The Outer Limits]]'', ''[[That Girl]]'', ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'', and many other shows.<ref name=archive/>

During the 1970s, he was behind the opening titles of shows such as ''[[Happy Days]]'', including the shot of the jukebox record and providing the neon sign displaying the show's title; and ''[[Kung Fu (1972 TV series)|Kung Fu]]'', of which he was particularly proud, calling it his "claim to fame."<ref name=archive/> He also created titles for ''[[Barnaby Jones]]'', ''[[Charlie's Angels]]'', ''[[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House on the Prairie]]'', ''[[Love American Style]]'', ''[[The Love Boat]]'', ''[[The Waltons]]'', and ''[[Wonder Woman (TV series)|Wonder Woman]]'', among many others. In the 1980s he created titles for shows including ''[[Murder, She Wrote]]'', ''[[The A-Team]]'', ''[[Cheers]]'' and ''[[Dynasty (1981 TV series)|Dynasty]]''.<ref name=asc/><ref name=archive/>

=== Film ===
Anderson created main titles and visual effects for over 100 films throughout his career, with some of his earliest being ''[[Prehistoric Women (1950 film)|Prehistoric Women]]'' and ''[[Phantom from Space]]''. He collaborated with fellow special effects artist Milt Rice on the science fiction thriller ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]'' and on several [[Billy Wilder]] comedies, including ''[[Some Like It Hot]]'' and ''[[The Apartment]]'', with Anderson creating the titles for the latter two films.<ref name=asc/><ref name=archive/> Anderson also shot the inserts for the Americanized version of ''[[Godzilla Raids Again]]'', which was released in 1959 as ''Gigantis the Fire Monster''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ryfle |first=Steve |date=1998 |title=Japan's Favorite Mon-star: The Unauthorized Biography of "The Big G" |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cqSOkywWeX4C |publisher=ECW Press |page=69 |isbn=1-55022-348-8 |accessdate=2015-11-01 }}</ref> He also did effects work on such films as [[George Pal]]'s ''[[The Time Machine (1960 film)|The Time Machine]]'', [[J. Lee Thompson]]'s ''[[Taras Bulba (1962 film)|Taras Bulba]]'', and [[Nathan H. Juran]]'s ''[[Jack the Giant Killer (1962 film)|Jack the Giant Killer]]''.

The highlight of Anderson's film work was [[Arthur Hiller]]'s [[war film]] ''[[Tobruk (1967 film)|Tobruk]]'', for which Anderson and [[Albert Whitlock]] were nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Visual Effects]] at the [[40th Academy Awards]].<ref name=archive/><ref name=ves/>[http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp;jsessionid=858D5CA957921FA58B1AA476A06D17BE?curTime=1440938376749] He later did uncredited work on such films as ''[[Escape from the Planet of the Apes]]'', ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'', ''[[Gray Lady Down]]'', ''[[Heaven Can Wait (1978 film)|Heaven Can Wait]]'', ''[[Superman (1978 film)|Superman]]'', and ''[[Annie (1982 film)|Annie]]''.<ref name=asc/>

== Retirement and death ==
Anderson retired from active effects work in 1990, though he continued to run the Howard Anderson Company until 1994.<ref name=archive/><ref name=legacy/>

In 2004 he received the President's Award for lifetime achievement from the [[American Society of Cinematographers]], of which he had been a member since 1962.<ref name=asc/> In 2007 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the [[Academy of Television Arts & Sciences]], the organization behind the [[Emmy Award]]s.<ref name=ves/>

Anderson died in California on September 27, 2015. He was 95.<ref name=ves/>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Memoryalpha|Howard A. Anderson, Jr.}}
*{{IMDb name|0026806}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Howard A.}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:2015 deaths]]
[[Category:American special effects people]]
[[Category:American cinematographers]]
[[Category:Artists from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:United States Navy reservists]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Howard A. Anderson Jr.|access_date=2026-03-03}}