Haskell Wexler

Haskell Wexler (1999)

Haskell Wexler (born February 6, 1922 in Chicago , Illinois - † December 27, 2015 in Santa Monica , California ) was an American cinematographer and director .

Live and act

After attending the University of California, Berkeley and serving in the US Merchant Navy during World War II , Wexler made industrial films and worked as an assistant camera. In 1953 he was involved in directing the short documentary The Living City , which was also nominated for an Oscar .

In 1960 he made his debut as a cameraman in the documentary film Das cruelame Auge (The Savage Eye) . In 1965 he produced and directed his first own film, The Bus . As a director, he mainly shot documentaries, but also feature films. His media criticism Medium Cool (1969), set against the background of the riots during the Democratic National Convention , was accepted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2003.

Wexler's unwillingness to compromise as a cameraman led to repeated confrontations with his directors, including Elia Kazan and Miloš Forman , who removed him from the set of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and had the film completed by Bill Butler .

Wexler was married to actress Rita Taggart. His sons Mark and Jeff Wexler from previous marriages are also in the film business. In 2005 there was a documentary about Haskell Wexler, Tell Them Who You Are , produced by his son Mark.

The director Tanya Wexler is his niece.

Awards (selection)

Academy Awards

• 1967 Oscar for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• 1976 Oscar nomination for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• 1977 Oscar for This country is my country
• 1988 Oscar nomination for Matewan
• 1990 Oscar nomination for Blaze, A Dangerous Love

American Society of Cinematographers

• 1990 ASC Award for Blaze - A Dangerous Love
• 1993 Lifetime Achievement Award

National Society of Film Critics Awards

• 1968 NSFC Award for In the Heat of the Night
• 1977 NSFC Award for This Land is My Land

Los Angeles Film Critics Association

• 1976 LAFCA Award for This Land is My Land

International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg

• 1969 Mannheim-Heidelberg Grand Prix for Medium Cool

Further honors

• 1996 Wexler was a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame honored

Filmography (selection)

As a cameraman

• 1958: T Is for Tumbleweed (short film)
• 1960: ... throw the first stone (The Hoodlum Priest)
• 1963: The Unbreakable (America, America)
• 1964: The candidate (The Best Man)
• 1965: Death in Hollywood (The Loved One)
• 1966: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)
• 1967: In the Heat of the Night
• 1968: Thomas Crown is unbelievable (The Thomas Crown Affair)
• 1968: Faces (Faces)
• 1971: Interviews with My Lai Veterans
• 1975: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest)
• 1976: This Land is My Land (Bound for Glory)
• 1978: Coming Home - You are returning home (Coming Home)
• 1978: Days of Heaven (Days of Heaven)
• 1982: Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip
• 1983: Women were his hobby (The Man Who Loved Women)
• 1988: Colors - Colors of violence (Colors)
• 1989: The Bank Trio (Three Fugitives)
• 1989: Blaze (Blaze)
• 1991: Other People's Money (Other People's Money)
• 1992: The Babe (The Babe)
• 1995: Our Enemy Neighbors (Canadian Bacon)
• 1996: According to its own rules (Mulholland Falls)
• 1996: Deadly Conspiracy (The Rich Man's Wife)
• 1999: When the fog clears - Limbo (Limbo)
• 2000: The Man on Lincoln's Nose
• 2004: Silver City

As a director

• 1953: The Living City
• 1965: The Bus
• 1969: Medium Cool
• 1985: Latino

As a producer

• 1965: Death in Hollywood (The Loved One)

Web links

• Haskell Wexler in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Haskell Wexler website
• Cinematographer and director: Haskell Wexler is dead , Spiegel Online , December 28, 2015

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alex Simon: Haskell Wexler: The Hollywood Interview. ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: haskellwexler.com. Retrieved December 29, 2015. 
2. ↑ Matt Brennan: Haskell Wexler, Legendary Cinematographer, Dead at 93. ( Memento of the original from December 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: indiewire.com, December 27, 2015, accessed December 29, 2015. 
3. ^ Eugene P. Walz, John Harrington, Vincent DiMarco: Frames of Reference: Essays on the Rhetoric of Film, Kendall / Hunt 1972, p. 23.
4. ^ Entry on Haskell Wexler in the Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers, accessed on June 20, 2012 (English).
5. ↑ ^{a b} Unflinching film of Haskell Wexler exposes the son too. , In: Los Angeles Times, May 3, 2005, accessed June 20, 2012.
6. ^ Tell Them Who You Are.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: wexworld.com. Associated Press Review, May 18, 2005, accessed June 20, 2012.