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Bruce Brown

Dedicated surfer and occasional filmmaker, Bruce Brown ignited an international surfing craze with his 1966 documentary classic, "Endless Summer" (1966). Designated the "Chairman of the Boards" by "Entertainment Weekly," he gained fame and fortune by doing it his way. Brown started out shooting silent footage of his friends surfing off the shore of his native southern California. An instinctual showman, he began screening his little movies at local high schools, providing on-site narration and a tape deck soundtrack. Brown went on to raise a $50,000 budget to undertake a much more ambitious project. Equipped with a sturdy windup 16mm Bolex camera, he teamed up with two teen surfers, Robert August and Mike Hynson, to film a quasi-spiritual quest around the world in search of perfect wave. Their trek led them to Malibu, Senegal, Ghana, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti and Hawaii. "Endless Summer" boasted extraordinary images and a beguiling innocence. This low-budget and initially self-distributed documentary eventually grossed $30 million.