‘Dog Day Afternoon’ Cinematographer Was 96 Years Old – The Hollywood Reporter

Victor J. Kemper, a veteran cinematographer who has shot more than 50 films, including A very hot summer day afternoon, Laura March’s eyes, This bastard And Slap shotHe died Monday, the American Society of Cinematographers announced. He was 96 years old.

Kemper received the opening DP credit on Couples (1970), written and directed by John Cassavetes, then filmed by Elia Kazan’s final film, Pole of the past (1976) and the first by Tim Burton, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985).

Kemper also made six films for director Arthur Heller – The tiger comes out (1967), the hospital (1971), author! author! (1982), The only man (1984), We see no evil, we hear no evil (1989) and Married to her (1991) – and three in a row by Karl Reiner: Oh, my God! (1977), The one and only (1978) and This bastard (1979).

The New Jersey native said he had to wear ice skates when he filmed the hockey scenes at George Roy Hill Arena Slap shot (1977) He frequently found himself the victim of a practical joke when the actors playing the Hanson brothers (Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson, and David Hanson) used their canes to trip him up.

The large list of managers Kemper has also worked with during his four-decade career includes Michael Ritchie Candidate (1972), Peter Yeats Eddie Coyle’s friends (1973), Sidney Lumet A very hot summer day afternoon (1975), Elaine May Mickey and Nicky (1976), Robert Wise on Audrey Rose (1977), Irvin Kirchner Laura March’s eyes (1978) and Norman Jewison on …and justice for all (1979).

Kemper was skilled in various genres but showed a particular flair for comedy Another hot red lovers (1972), National Lampoon Holiday (1983), Mr. Mom (1983), Beethoven (1992), Tommy Boy (1995) and Jingle all the way (1996).

Kemper served as president of the ASC from 1993 to 1996 and from 1999 to 2001 and received the Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998.

Born in Newark on April 14, 1927, Kemper graduated from Seton Hall University and was hired by a local television station, where he operated boom and sound mixes and served as art director for live studio programming.

His boss denied his request to take two weeks off to go to California to train on videotape, which had recently been invented – so he quit.

In 1954, Kemper got a job as a video camera operator at EUE, a New York television commercial production company, and then went on to work as an assistant cameraman and operator for major cinematographers including Arthur Ornitz.

On his first day Couples – It came after the original DP, Aldo Tonti, decided to leave after a week – Kemper was challenged to light a scene in a men’s bathroom where the walls were painted black and the actors were all wearing black coats to attend a funeral.

“Cassavetes came out on set and wished me good luck on my first time directing,” he recalled in a 2009 interview. “I said, ‘John, can you tell me how you expect me to fire this set?'” … He simply said, “You’re the cinematographer, I’m the director, you figure it out,” and he walked out. “And so I was thrown headfirst into the water “Rising hot.”

They spent 12 weeks in New York and 10 weeks in London shooting Couples, twice the time that was allocated in the budget. “Cassavetes was always more concerned about getting the film right than about the dollars spent,” he said.

Kemper’s film biography is also included They may be giants (1971), Who is Harry Kellerman and why is he saying those terrible things about me? (1971), gambler (1974), Stay hungry (1976), coma (1978), Charm (1978), Xanadu (1980), the four Seasons (1981) and an idea (1985).

He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on the 1987 CBS television movie Kojak: The price of justice He filmed the famous CBS series in 1985 Atlanta child murders.

Kemper said his job requires a little instinct.

“Part of being a cinematographer is learning the craft,” he said in 2008 when he was named cinematographer-in-residence at UCLA. “But there’s also something whispering in your ear telling you to move the camera forward in a certain direction while you put a face in the shadows and a sparkle in someone’s eyes.”