Freeman Harrison Owens

Freeman Harrison Owens (20 July 1890 - 1979) was a combat cameraman and technical pioneer in the motion picture industry. He invented a technique for the synchronizing of movie sound with filmed images and designed a high-speed camera that made slow-motion film possible, and was the holder of over 200 patents for still cameras, movie projectors, and other equipment used throughout the movie industry.

Freeman Harrison Owens was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on 20 July 1890. He constructed his first motion picture camera in 1906 at the age of 16. He later designed and developed cameras lenses used by the Eastman-Kodak Company.

Owens was the first cameraman to film news events in the state of Arkansas in 1910. He captured the Chicago Stockyards fire in 1910 and the Charleston, South Carolina hurricane and flood in [[1911]. Owens was the inventor of 11,812 items and held 200 patents. Owens served as a combat cameraman on the battlefields of Europe during World War I.

Freeman worked as a cinematographer for D. W. Griffith, Essanay Studios, IMP (now Universal Studios), Movietone, Selig, Dr. Lee de Forest at Phonofilm and many others. Owens played a major role in the invention of the slow-motion camera. He also was involved with the invention of the Neilsen Rating System. Owens moved to New York City late in life but returned to Arkansas to live out his final years.

Freeman Harrison Owens is buried at Bellwood Cemetery in Pine Bluff. Artifacts of his life are on view at the Jefferson County Museum.

Owens was the subject of the documentary film, The Freeman Harrison Owens Story by Brenda and Tony Hall.

Freeman Harrison Owens is a member of the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame.