- Born
- Died
- Ace cinematographer Owen Roizman was born September 22, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York. His father Sol was a cinematographer for Fox Movietone News and his uncle Morrie Roizman was a film editor. Owen studied math and physics at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. He began his career shooting TV commercials, and made his feature debut as a director of photography with the obscure and little seen 1970 movie Stop! (1970). Owen brought a strong and compelling sense of raw, gritty, documentary-style realism to William Friedkin's harsh and hard-hitting police action thriller classic The French Connection (1971). Roizman received a well-deserved Academy Award nomination for his outstanding visual contributions to this picture; he went on to garner four additional Oscar nominations, for The Exorcist (1973), Tootsie (1982), Network (1976) and Wyatt Earp (1994). Owen gave a similar rough and grainy look to the edgy urban thrillers The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) and Straight Time (1978). His other films encompass an impressively diverse array of different genres which include horror ("The Exorcist"), science fiction (The Stepford Wives (1975)), comedy (The Heartbreak Kid (1972) "Tootsie"), musicals (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)), drama (True Confessions (1981), Absence of Malice (1981)) and even Westerns (The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976), "Wyatt Earp"). His last feature to date was French Kiss (1995). In the early 1980s Owen took a hiatus from shooting films and formed the commercial production company Roizman and Associates. He has directed and/or photographed hundreds of TV commercials. In 1997 he was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers.- IMDb mini biography by: woodyanders
- SpouseMona Lindholm(December 6, 1964 - January 6, 2023) (his death, 1 child)
- Children
- Parents
- RelativesMorrie Roizman(Aunt or Uncle)
- Frequently works with Lawrence Kasdan and Sydney Pollack.
- Member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Cinematographers Branch) [2002-]
- President American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) 1997-1998.
- Father of Eric Roizman.
- Nephew of Morrie Roizman.
- As of 2022, he has contributed with the cinematography of four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: The French Connection (1971), The Exorcist (1973), Network (1976) and Tootsie (1982). Of those, The French Connection (1971) is a winner in the category.
- Film is a unique art form in the sense that no one person can express himself or herself alone. You rely on a lot of unsung heroes. It's not like an artist painting a picture where it's just him and the easel. There are 100 people I rely on.
- When I was nominated for an Oscar for The French Connection (1971), I couldn't believe it. I thought I was fooling everyone. You know, I still feel that way. In fact, when I was nominated for the fifth time for Wyatt Earp (1994), the first thing my wife said was, "Well, you fooled them again".
- [on lighting problems]: Glasses - I hate 'em! They're a nightmare. Every time they ask me if somebody should wear glasses, I say, "No! Get 'em off!"
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