Owen Roizman, a five-time Academy Award nominee as a cinematographer for the film classics “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist,” died Friday. He was 86.
Roizman, who had been in hospice care since August, died at his Encino, California, home, his wife, Mona Roizman, told The Hollywood Reporter.
The American Society of Cinematographers, where Roizman was a member and served as president from 1997 to 1998, also confirmed Roizman’s death in an Instagram post, Deadline reported.
“We are very sorry to hear that cinematographer Owen Roizman, ASC has died at the age of 86 following a long illness,” the post read.
The cinematographer teamed with director Sidney Pollack on five films, including “Three Days of the Condor” (1975), “The Electric Horseman” (1979), “Absence of Malice” (1981), “Tootsie” (1982) and Havana (1990), according to IMDb.com.
Roizman was nominated for an Oscar five times, for “The French Connection,” “The Exorcist,” “Network” (1976), “Tootsie” and “Wyatt Earp (1994).” In 2017, Roizman was awarded an honorary Academy Award for his contributions to the film industry.
“My hobby was magic, and I’m the best audience in the world for a magician because I want to be fooled. I’m always curious about how somebody did something,” Roizman said in a podcast on the American Society of Cinematographers website. “So I wanted to fool people in how I would light something.”
Roizman also worked on “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight” (1971), “Play It Again, Sam” (1972), “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” (1974), “The Stepford Wives” (1975) and “The Addams Family” (1991), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Roizman was nominated for an Emmy Award for his cinematography (using film, not videotape) of the 1972 Liza Minnelli variety special “Liza With a Z,” according to Variety.
Roizman was born on Sept. 22, 1936, in New York City and was raised in Brooklyn, according to Deadline. As a child, he wanted to be a baseball player and he even tried out for the New York Yankees but contracted polio as a teenager. His father was a cameraman for Movietone News, the website reported.