Vilmos Zsigmond (; June 16, 1930 – January 1, 2016) was a Hungarian-American

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 ...

. His work in cinematography helped shape the look of American movies in the 1970s, making him one of the leading figures in the American New Wave movement. Over his career he became associated with many leading American directors, such as

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, known for directing subversive and sat ...

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

Brian De Palma Brian Russell De Palma (; born September 11, 1940) is an Americans, American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for work in the suspense, Crime film, crime, and psychological thriller genres. ...

Michael Cimino Michael Antonio Cimino ( , ; February 3, 1939 – July 2, 2016) was an American filmmaker. He achieved fame as the director of ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978), which won five Academy Awards, including Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Picture and ...

and

Woody Allen Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...

. He is best known for his work on the films ''

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'' and '' The Deer Hunter''. He won the

Academy Award for Best Cinematography The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work on one particular motion picture. History In its first film season, 1927–28, this award (like others such as the acting awards) w ...

for his work on ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' as well as the

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...

for Best Cinematography for ''The Deer Hunter''. He also won the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography for a Miniseries or a Special for the HBO miniseries ''

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''. His work on the films '' McCabe and Mrs. Miller'', ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' and ''The Deer Hunter'' made the

American Society of Cinematographers The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), founded in Hollywood in 1919, is a cultural, educational, and professional organization that is neither a labor union nor a guild. The society was organized to advance the science and art of cinem ...

(ASC) list of the top 50 best-shot films from 1950–97. The ASC also awarded him with their Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998. In 2003, Zsigmond was voted as one of the ten most influential cinematographers in history by the members of the

International Cinematographers Guild The International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE Local 600) represents approximately 8,400 members who work throughout the United States, Canada and the rest of the world in film and television as Directors of Photography, Camera Operators, Came ...

Life and career

Zsigmond was born in

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

, Hungary, the son of Bozena (), an administrator, and Vilmos Zsigmond, a soccer player and coach. He became interested in photography at age 17 after an uncle had given him ''The Art of Light'', a book of black-and-white photographs taken by Hungarian photographer Eugene Dulovits, but under the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-imposed government of the

Hungarian People's Republic The Hungarian People's Republic (HPR) was a landlocked country in Central Europe from its formation on 20 August 1949 until the establishment of the current Hungary, Republic of Hungary on 23 October 1989. It was a professed Communist_state# ...

he was not allowed to study the subject because his family was considered

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

. Instead, Zsigmond worked in a factory, bought a camera and taught himself how to take pictures, going on to organize a camera club for the workers. As a result he won the respect of local commissars and was allowed to study cinema at the

Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest The Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest (, SZFE) is an educational institution founded in 1865 in Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867), Hungary. It became a university in 2000 and the name was changed to University of Theatre and Film Arts ...

and received an MA in cinematography. He worked for five years in a Budapest feature film studio becoming director of photography. Zsigmond, along with his friend and fellow student László Kovács, borrowed a 35-millimeter camera from their school and chronicled the events of the

1956 Hungarian Revolution The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

in Budapest by hiding the camera in a shopping bag and shooting footage through a hole they had cut in the bag. The two men shot thirty thousand feet of film and escaped to Austria shortly afterwards. In 1958 Zsigmond and Kovács arrived in the United States as political refugees and sold the footage to CBS for a network documentary on the revolution narrated by

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trust ...

. In 1962, Zsigmond became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He settled in Los Angeles and worked in photo labs as a technician and photographer. The first film he worked on in the United States was the 1963 black-and-white

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...

'' The Sadist'', starring Arch Hall Jr. Throughout the 1960s, he worked on many low-budget independent and educational films as he attempted to break into the film industry. Some of the films that he worked on during this period credited him as "William Zsigmond", including ''The Sadist'', the classic horror

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'' The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies'', and the Second City satirical science fiction movie '' The Monitors''. Kovács, who shot the 1969 film '' Easy Rider'' for

Peter Fonda Peter Henry Fonda (February 23, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. He was a two-time Academy Award nominee, both for acting and screenwriting, and a two-time Golden Globe Award winner for his a ...

and Dennis Hopper, recommended Zsigmond to Fonda for his 1971 Western film '' The Hired Hand''. Later that same year Zsigmond was hired by

for his revisionist western film '' McCabe & Mrs. Miller'', which became Zsigmond's breakthrough film and marked his first time working on a major Hollywood production. Over the following decade, Zsigmond became one of the most in-demand cinematographers in Hollywood. Some of the major films he shot in the 1970s include John Boorman's ''

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'', Altman's '' The Long Goodbye'' and

's '' Obsession'', as well as

's ''

The Sugarland Express ''The Sugarland Express'' is a 1974 American crime comedy-drama film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film follows a woman ( Goldie Hawn) and her husband ( William Atherton) as they take a police officer ( Michael Sacks) hostage and flee acros ...

'' and ''

'', the latter of which won him the

at the 50th Academy Awards. In 1978, Zsigmond worked on

's drama '' The Deer Hunter'', starring

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and

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. Zsigmond's visual work on the film earned him the 1980

for Best Cinematography and another Academy Award nomination. Zsigmond again worked with Cimino on his 1980 epic Western '' Heaven's Gate''. Zsigmond continued to be in demand in the years that followed, working multiple times with several directors. He again worked with De Palma on his films '' Blow Out'', '' The Bonfire of the Vanities'', and '' The Black Dahlia''. He worked with

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on '' Cinderella Liberty'', '' The Rose'', '' The River'', and ''

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''. He worked with George Miller on ''

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'' and with

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He came to prominence with the low-budget buddy comedy film ''Clerks (film), Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted i ...

on '' Jersey Girl''. He also worked with

on '' Melinda and Melinda'', '' Cassandra's Dream'', and '' You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger''. Zsigmond's television work includes the HBO miniseries ''

'', for which he won the 1993

for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography for a Miniseries or a Special. He was nominated for an Emmy for his work on 2001 miniseries '' The Mists of Avalon''. Zsigmond also shot 24 episodes of '' The Mindy Project'' between 2012 and 2014. Vilmos' life and career was featured in '' No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos'', a bio-documentary that aired on PBS's '' Independent Lens'' in 2009. In 2011 Zsigmond co-founded the Global Cinematography Institute in Los Angeles, along with fellow cinematographer Yuri Neyman. The Institute provides an advanced cinematography educational program for postgraduate students and veteran filmmakers. He was a longtime user and endorser of Tiffen filters, and is associated with the technique known as ''flashing'' or ''pre-fogging'', which involves carefully exposing the film negative to a small, controlled amount of light in order to create a muted color palette.

Death

On January 1, 2016, Zsigmond died at his home in Big Sur, California, at the age of 85.

Filmography

Feature film

Director * ''The Long Shadow'' (1992) Cinematographer

Television

Awards and honors

Academy Awards BAFTA Awards American Society of Cinematographers Satellite Awards National Society of Film Critics Primetime Emmy Awards Lifetime Achievement Awards * 1997: Camerimage Festival"Camerimage 1997" Retrieved November 2, 2016.
* 1999:

* 2010: Manaki Brothers Film Festival * 2014:

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

References

External links

*
Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zsigmond, Vilmos 1930 births 2016 deaths Best Cinematographer Academy Award winners Best Cinematography BAFTA Award winners Hungarian cinematographers Hungarian film producers Hungarian emigrants to the United States People from Szeged