Sounds of Silence

Got a call from Los Angeles on Saturday from Greg Valtierra's wife, Anna. Greg was my first sound mixer at the B.C. Entertainment Group, Inc. and one of the producer's of my film "Blood, Sweat & Bullets." Anna told me Greg passed. Greg was eighty-eight. I worked with him for the first time twenty-three years ago on "Rock-A-Die Baby." He was a sound mixer that could hear grass grow. He will be missed by not only his wife and children but all production people that came in contact with him.

My fondest memory of Greg was his calm demeanor. We were in Colombia, South America in 1989 shooting an army commando film for a Cine Trust/Cine Colombia production company. One morning the Cartel blew up the bank across the street from our hotel. Greg was a producer for Cine Colombia. I ran and banged on his hotel room door frantic. He answered and quietly listened as I ranted about the bank blowing up down the block. Greg looked at me and smiled, "It's okay, Bob," he said, "it wasn't our bank." He had that way of keeping a level head no matter what the problem. I learned a lot from him.

In addition to my films and films from his native Colombia, he worked on "Funny Lady," Hot Lead and Cold Feet" and "Disney's: Wonderful World of Color."

At the end of the titles of my early films it's Greg's voice who says "It's a wrap! It's a wrap!