Re-recording mixer Kevin O’Connell finally wins first Oscar

Sound mixer Kevin O’Connell saw his record run of Oscar nominations without a win finally come to an end at the 89th Academy Awards last night.

The re-recording mixer had previously been a nominee 20 times – starting with his first nod for Terms of Endearment way back in 1984 – and went on to miss out on the Sound Mixing Award each time before at last getting his hands on one of the coveted statuettes yesterday evening for his work on Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge.

His other notable Oscar nominations include near misses with Top Gun, A Few Good Men, Con Air and Pearl Harbor.

Also competing in the Sound Mixing category were Arrival, La La Land, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi while the other Sound Award on the night – for Editing – went to Sylvain Bellemare for Arrival.

O’Connell’s long-awaited success wasn’t the only story to come out of the Sound Mixing nominees this year – on Saturday, the day before the ceremony, 13 Hours sound mixer Greg P. Russell was stripped of his nomination after it emerged that he had reportedly made phone calls to his fellow Academy Sound Branch members, in direct violation of a campaign regulation that prohibits telephone lobbying. Russell has also been waiting a long time for his first Oscar, after 16 nominations without a win.

Picture: O’Connell (second from left) with the rest of the Hacksaw Ridge Sound mixing team (from left) Andy Wright, Peter Grace and Robert Mackenzie. (Credit: Oscars.org)