Ken Nightingall was born in 1928. Over his career, he worked on over 47 films. Among these are the
James Bond films For Your Eyes Only (1981),
Octopussy (1983),
A View to a Kill (1985) and
The Living Daylights (1987), as well as other popular films like
Alfie (1966),
Funeral in Berlin (1966),
The Boys from Brazil (1978) and
Supergirl (1984). He also worked in television, for shows such as
Top Secret. He recorded sound on set for
Star Wars (1977), which won the
Academy Award for Best Sound and
BAFTA Award for Best Sound; he was not named in the award citations and his work was uncredited. The nickname "Pink Shorts Boom Guy" was applied to Nightingall in 2015. A photograph that had been taken during the filming of
Star Wars in 1976 was published on
Reddit and subsequently became popular on the internet due to its depiction of Nightingall, working as a boom operator, dressed only in pink shorts. The photograph was taken in Tunisia where the crew was shooting scenes of
Tatooine with actors
Alec Guinness and
Mark Hamill. Nightingall explained that Tunisia was very hot and so he chose to dress in only shorts.
Roger Christian, who worked on the film's production design, agreed that "the heat was more than enough to warrant pink shorts". He developed
cult status among
Star Wars and film fans because of the unusual choice. The outfit quickly inspired
comic con costumes, as well as receiving merchandise based on Nightingall in custom
Star Wars action figures and
Lego minifigures. A guide to making a Pink Shorts Boom Guy costume was created by 2019, indicating that the pink shorts should be made of
terry towelling, with a
Facebook group also set up for ideas on alternatives to a real boom pole. ==Death==