Owen Roizman ‘The Exorcist’ & ‘The French Connection’ Cinematographer Dies At 86

Roizman was a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and was president of the group from 1997 to 1998. The news was confirmed by the ASC.

“We are very sorry to hear that cinematographer Owen Roizman, ASC has died at the age of 86 following a long illness,” read the Instagram post.

Five times during his career, Roizman was nominated for an Academy Award. When he worked with William Friedkin on The French Connection, he was nominated for the first time.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2011, Roizman talked about how Friedkin helped him get the job. The French Connection was only his second movie, but Friedkin had seen Stop, where he had worked before.

“Friedkin said, ‘I like your work in it; what I want to do … what I want it to be is a realistic street photography sort of thing.’ I said, ‘Why not? I should be able to do anything you tell me. I’m a cinematographer.’ He liked my attitude,” he said.

In 1973, he worked with Friedkin again on The Exorcist, which also got a nomination for Best Cinematography. The artist would also be nominated for an Oscar for his work on Sidney Lumet’s Network, Sydney Pollack’s Tootsie, and Lawrence Kasdan’s Wyatt Earp. In 2017, Roizman was given an Academy Honorary Award.

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Roizman was born in New York City on September 22, 1936, and he grew up there. As a child, he wanted to be a baseball player and even tried out for the New York Yankees.

However, when he was a teenager, he got polio. His father worked as a cameraman for Movietone News and later joined MPO Videotronics to help cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld.

He has also been in The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight (1971), Play It Again, Sam (1972) by Herbert Ross, The Heartbreak Kid (1972) by Elaine May, and The Addams Family by Barry Sonnenfeld.

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