‘Addams Family’ and ‘The Exorcist’ cinematographer Owen Roizman passes away

Washington [US], January 8 (ANI): Iconic cinematographer Owen Roizman, best known for shooting visual pieces like ‘The Addams Family’ and ‘The Exorcist’ has passed away aged 86.

According to Variety, a US-based news outlet, Roizman received five Oscar nominations, for ‘The French Connection’, ‘The Exorcist’, ‘Network’, ‘Tootsie’, and the 1994 Western ‘Wyatt Earp’.

In 2017, he received an honorary Academy Award for his achievements in the industry. In addition to his Oscar nominations, Roizman received an Emmy nomination for his cinematography (using film, not videotape) of the 1972 Bob Fosse-helmed Liza Minnelli variety show, ‘Liza With a Z’.

In 1997, Roizman was given a lifetime achievement award by the American Society of Cinematographers.

On five movies, including ‘Three Days of the Condor’, ‘The Electric Horseman’, ‘Absence of Malice’, ‘Tootsie’ and ‘Havana’, he collaborated with celebrated auteur Sydney Pollack.

According to author Susan Dworkin, in ‘Making Tootsie: Inside the Classic Film with Dustin Hoffman and Sydney Pollack’, Pollack and Owen Roizman’s powerful working relationship was based on a shared appreciation of style.

However, Roizman established a significant professional connection with William Friedkin before Pollack.

As per a report by Variety, born in Brooklyn, Owen Roizman’s father, Sol, was a newsreel photographer, and his uncle, Morrie, was a film editor. In 1958, Owen earned a math and physics degree from Pennsylvania’s Gettysburg College.
Despite eventually pursuing a degree in show business, Roizman claimed in 2011 during the Ojai Film Festival that his education was not a waste of time.

Bill Gunn’s 1970 film ‘Stop’ was his debut project with the lens. The movie received an X rating for its sexual nature. Warner Bros. paid for it, but the apprehensive studio put it on hold and it was never shown.

Roizman was awarded a lifetime achievement award in 2001 by the Camerimage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, in Poland.