Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler dies

He attended the festival on numerous occasions and in 2008 received the annual gathering’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Wexler also directed and wrote the 1985 feature film “Latino”, a war drama shot in Nicaragua that movie critic Michael Wilmington described as “an indictment of US involvement in Nicaragua that pulls no philosophical punches and was made under conditions of real danger, near actual battle zones”.

“It was such an honor to have such a film legend in our ranks”, Rejto said.

We mourn the loss of Haskell Wexler, one of the greatest cinematographers in Hollywood history, the director of the pioneering film “Medium Cool”, and the subject of a documentary by his son, Tell Them Who You Are.

For “In the Heat of the Night”, he put silks over the tops of sets and aimed lights at their centers. His goal was to contribute to the strain between Poitier’s massive-metropolis black detective and Steiger’s Southern white lawman.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wexler served as supervising cameraman and visual consultant on American Graffiti after meeting a young George Lucas at a race track; Wexler gave Lucas a recommendation that helped him get into USC’s film school. He shot nearly exactly half (by his own stopwatch) of Terrence Malick’s sublime Days of Heaven, taking up photography duties after Nestor Almendros and camera operator John Bailey had to leave due to prior obligations.

Wexler appeared in numerous documentaries about other directors and cinematographers, including Todd McCarthy’s 1992 Visions of Light. Francis Ford Coppola fired him in the course of the filming of “The Conversation”.

“I told him I wanted to be a filmmaker”, Wexler recalled in his interview with American Cinematographer. By 1964, he was working with top directors including Elia Kazan (America, America), Franklin Schaffner (The Best Man) and Tony Richardson (The Loved One).

One of his documentaries, Who Needs Sleep, addressed the danger to film crews of overlong shooting schedules that result in fatigue – and people falling asleep on the road home.

Wexler’s personal blog confirmed his passing by posting a simple photograph, captioned with the dates: February 6, 1922 – December 27, 2015.

Wexler left the University of California, Berkeley, 18 months into his research to enlist within the Merchant Marine because the D.J. was about to enter World War II. After his ship was torpedoed off the tip of South Africa, Mr. Wexler helped some of the sailors join him in a lifeboat. His approach on In the Heat of the Night, for example, marked one of the very first times a Hollywood film properly lit black actors: Wexler used low lights and careful staging to avoid obscuring Sidney Poitier’s features.

His other credits include such disparate fare as “Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip”, “Colors”, “The Babe” and the HBO movie “61*” about Roger Maris chasing Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record.