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Known as "Buddy" to friends and colleagues, A. Arnold Gillespie was educated at Columbia University and the Arts Students League. Entering films in 1922, Gillespie was an art director at MGM from 1924 to 1936. Thereafter, and until his retirement in the 1960s, he was in charge of the studio's special effects department. A. Arnold Gillespie received Academy Awards for his supervision of the matte, miniature, and back projection work on 30 Seconds Over Tokyo (1943), Green Dolphin Street (1947), Plymouth Adventure (1952) and Ben-Hur (1959)--and though he didn't win an award for Forbidden Planet (1956) the film was one of his best.