Owen Roizman, cinematographer for The French Connection, The Exorcist and more, dies at 86

Owen Roizman, the pioneering cinematographer who made several landmark films during his 25-year career in feature films, has died, according to a newspaper report. diversity. Born in Brooklyn, Roizman has brought his talents to nearly every genre imaginable, from action and horror to westerns and comedy to even the legendary live concert act. Work with managers William FriedkinSydney Pollack Eileen MaySidney Lumet, Bob Fosse, John Huston, Laurent KasdanAnd Barry Sonnenfeld. He was nominated for five Oscars and won an honorary award in 2017. He was 86 years old.

Rosman’s father, Sol Roizman, was a cameraman for Movietone News, and his uncle, Maury Roizman, produced the news and served as editor. He got into work in television commercials and landed his first feature film as a cinematographer in the 1970s. Stop! It was Bill Gunn’s first movie, and after it received an X rating, it was shelved by Warner Bros. as the next film. as a movie. Jean was the second African-American director for a photography studio at the time. The movie, which was shot in Puerto Rico and features scenes of gay love, has since been shown only in the museum’s exhibits.

But apparently enough people in the industry saw it and loved Roizman’s cinematography. like, William Friedkin I hired him to shoot French link, both of which dramatically changed the way we think about bold urban law enforcement. The 1971 film won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Hackman Gene) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Ernest Tiedemann), as well as nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Editing for Roy Scheider. It was also Roizman’s first Best Cinematography nomination. (losing to the work of Oswald Morris violinist Ruff) Fifty years later, the scene of the chase through Brooklyn under the elevated train holds more than the road.

And like a Popeye Doyle vehicle, his career has plummeted from here, making one big movie after another. after after French linkFilming a mafia comedy The gang that couldn’t shoot directlyBased on Jimmy Breslin’s book, So Play it again Sam rare Woody Allen A movie (based on his play) he never directed himself (Herbert Ross did) and which replaced his New York classic in San Francisco (There was a cinema workers strike in the Big Apple that summer.) Then another comedy, This Temp Child’s heartache to Eileen May with Charles Grodin, Sybil BergerAnd Jenny Berlin. Then another entertaining teacher arrived.