An 84-year-old Thousand Oaks man made his professional mark several times over during his long career in sound effects and music editing for movies.

A native Californian, Gene Marks has been involved in entertainment since the age of 10, when his family lived for three years on Universal Studio's back lot and worked as movie extras during the Depression.

While majoring in electrical engineering at UCLA, Marks also worked part time as a sound engineer for a Hollywood recording studio, where he met stars such as Clark Gable, Alan Ladd and Van Heflin.

The work experience was enough to catapult Marks into the U.S. Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit, or FMPU, during World War II.

Commandos of the studios

Nicknamed "celluloid commandos," the unit's members made documentary, patriotic and training films.

Marks was among those honored in Berkeley last month in a retrospective called, "Keep 'em Flying!"

Put on by the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, the Veterans Day program recognized the hundreds of Hollywood studio personnel who once donned military uniforms for the unique wartime collaboration.

"This was an exciting experience," Marks said.

Marks represented the FMPU at the event, and with filmmaker Gregory Orr — grandson of studio executive Jack Warner — he was a panelist on a session titled "Hollywood Commandos."

After the war, Marks signed on to Desilu Productions in 1954 and then switched to Warner Bros. a year later for what would become a 35-year association.

He freelanced for five more years before retiring permanently.

A more challenging field

Of that three-decades-plus run, about a third was spent in sound effects editing, and the other two-thirds in music editing.

A sound effects editor injects sounds such as footsteps and gun clicks into films, "everything you hear but dialogue and music," Marks said.

Eventually, music editing became a more challenging lure.

"I liked both fields but there was more control over what you could do editing music," he said.

Some of the many films he worked on include "Giant," "Dirty Harry" and "Cool Hand Luke," as well as "My Fair Lady," "Camelot" and "Blazing Saddles."

Life took another turn in the mid-1960s when the San Fernando Valley resident was looking to buy a home. One weekend he drove through Thousand Oaks, spotted a "for sale" sign in Shadow Oaks, stopped in to inquire and bought the house for $26,500.

"Folks said it would take too long to drive out here but you know what, it was about the same time or less considering they were sitting in traffic at the time, and I wasn't," he chuckled.

Marks has been a volunteer usher at Conejo Players and the Civic Arts Plaza theaters. Sometimes, he's a docent with other Warner Bros. retirees at the Warner Bros. Museum on the lot, he says.

Gene and his wife, Myra Marks, have been married for 17 years. Each brought children to their marriage.

Gene has two children and three grandkids; Myra has six, along with two stepchildren and eight grandchildren.

The couple's latest entertainment commitment was a local gig.

They matched actors with props for Conejo Players' presentation of the Noel Coward classic farce "Blithe Spirit." It ran through Dec. 15 at the theater.