Michael Wadleigh (born September 24, 1939, in

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

known for his

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

of the 1969

Woodstock Festival The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

, ''

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

''.

Biography

A native of

Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...

, Wadleigh entered films in his early twenties as a cinematographer on independently produced low-budget films ''

David Holzman's Diary ''David Holzman's Diary'' is a 1967 American mockumentary, or work of metacinema, directed by Jim McBride, James McBride and starring L. M. Kit Carson. A feature-length film made on a tiny budget over several days, it is a work of experimental fic ...

'' and '' I Call First'' (both 1967), and ''My Girlfriend's Wedding'' (1969). He gained notice for his work from critics who followed independent and

underground film An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre or financing. Notable examples include John Waters' ''Pink Flamingos'', David Lynch's ''Eraserhead'', Andy Warhol's ''Blue Movie'', Rosa von Praunheim's ''Tal ...

s, but the films, primarily aimed at a specialized and

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

audience, brought him no financial success. In 1969, Wadleigh undertook the monumental task of documenting the

Woodstock Music Festival The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquarian Expositio ...

. He arrived on the site in

Bethel, New York Bethel is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was estimated at 3,959 in 2020 United States census, 2020. The town received worldwide attention after it served as the locati ...

on August 15, with over a thousand reels of film and a crew of several camera operators. The finished product was said to have consisted of about 120 miles of footage which, over the next months, was edited down to 184 minutes.

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

, the film's primary financial backer, released it on March 26, 1970. The film, which reportedly cost $600,000 to produce, earned over $50 million in the United States and more millions from foreign rentals, but due to a complicated arrangement with Warner Bros., Wadleigh received only a small percentage of the profits. ''Woodstock'' stands as a milestone in the documentary film field, receiving an

Academy Award for Documentary Feature The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Academy Honorary Award, Special Awards to ''Kukan'' and ''Target for Tonight''. The ...

at the 1971

ceremony A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin, via the Latin . Religious and civil ...

.Documentary Winners: 1971 Oscars
/ref> '' Janis'', a 1974 documentary about

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most iconic and successful Rock music, rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and her "electric" ...

, gave Wadleigh credit as cinematographer for his archive footage, but it would be eleven years after the release of ''

'' before he received his next, and to date last, directorial credit: '' Wolfen'', a unique 1981 horror

phantasmagoria Phantasmagoria (), alternatively fantasmagorie and/or fantasmagoria, was a form of horror theatre that (among other techniques) used one or more magic lanterns to project frightening images – such as skeletons, demons, and ghosts – typicall ...

, based on the novel '' The Wolfen'' by

Whitley Strieber Louis Whitley Strieber (; born June 13, 1945) is an American writer best known for his horror novels '' The Wolfen'' and '' The Hunger'' and for '' Communion'', a non-fiction account of his alleged experiences with non-human entities. He has mai ...

, was praised for its dreamlike nature and striking visual quality, but despite a top-notch star turn from

Albert Finney Albert Finney (9 May 1936 – 7 February 2019) was an English actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked in the theatre before attaining fame for movie acting during the early 1960s, debuting with '' The Entertainer'' ( ...

, turned out to have been too offbeat for the general public to achieve financial success. Wadleigh also wrote the ''Wolfen''

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

and has a bit part as "Terrorist Informer". In August 1994, twenty-four years after its original showing, a 228-minute "director's cut" of ''Woodstock'' was released, and in 1999, another

-based documentary, ''

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

: Live at Woodstock'', gave Wadleigh another archive footage credit for cinematography.

Filmography

Cinematographer * '' David Holtzman's Diary'' (1967) * '' I Call First'' (1967) * ''No Vietnamese Ever Called Me Nigger'' (1968) * ''My Girlfriend's Wedding'' (1969) * ''

'' (1970) * '' Janis'' (1974) Director * ''

'' (1970) * '' Wolfen'' (1981) (Also writer and actor) * ''Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock'' (1999)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wadleigh 1939 births Artists from Akron, Ohio American cinematographers American documentary film directors American male screenwriters Film directors from Ohio Living people Screenwriters from Ohio

Biography

Filmography

References

Further reading

External links