American Cinematographer - December 2011 - 114

In Memoriam

Andrew Laszlo, ASC, 1926-2011
the N azis invaded Hungary in 1944. His family was soon separated and sent to various concentration camps. He was pressed into a forced-labor unit of the Hungarian Army. After two escapes, he was captured and transported to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, and then to Theresienstadt in Terezin, Czechoslovakia. Andy was the only member of his immediate family to survive the camps. After the war, he briefly worked in a Budapest film lab. He described the experience when I interviewed him for Cinematographer Style: “My first job in the film business was using a broom. In war-torn Hungary, there was no film production to speak of. I didn’t think there was any future in my staying there. I packed a suitcase and left the country — illegally, I might add.” He arrived in New York on Jan. 17, 1947, committed to making a new beginning. His love of the United States and appreciation for its freedoms and opportunities remained forever with him. In 1950, he was drafted to serve in the Korean War. He was assigned to the U.S. Army Signal Corps, where he was trained as a motion-picture cameraman. Andy married Ann Granger in 1952. They raised four children in Locust Valley, Long Island. I worked on many assignments with his son Jeff, who now runs the family ranch in Montana. In a recent note, Jeff put a fine point on what made his father so special: “He was such a beautiful, loving person; kind, talented, principled, adventurous, unconventional, spiritual and imaginative. Most of all, to me he was magical. He could take bleakness or disappointment and turn it to happiness, and somehow made every day worth remembering…. He loved life, and his was a testament to overcoming adversity with optimism, faith and good will to others.” Andy is survived by his wife, Ann; sons Andrew Jr., Jeff and Jim; a daughter, Elizabeth; and five grandchildren. It is with the deepest sorrow that we must say, “It’s a wrap.” Goodbye, dear friend. You will be missed. ●

ically, publishing four novels, an autobiography and three books about his career in film, Andrew Laszlo, ASC died Oct. 7 at his including It’s a Wrap, whichchronicles such home in Bozeman, Mont., after a brief adventures as a secret trip to Havana to film illness. He was 85. Fidel Castro as he took power during the His 40-year career as a cinematograCuban Revolution, the Beatles’ landmark pher began in the golden age of television on Shea Stadium concert, and the cultural chalseries such as The Ed Sullivan Show , The lenges of a nine-month shoot in Japan for N aked City and The Phil Silvers Show. His Shogun. feature credits included The N ight They Most of us knew Andy as a largerRaided Minsky’s, The Out of Towners, Lovers than-life John Wayne type: strong and and Other Strangers, The Owl and the Pussy- mostly quiet, except for those times when cat, The Warriors, Southern Comfort, First on-set circumstances dictated that someone Blood, Streets of Fire , Innerspace and take charge and lead a large crew to accomNewsies. plish the task at hand. He was uniformly He was a member of the International admired by his crews and respected for both Photographers Guild, the Directors Guild of his talent and how he treated his fellow America, the Academy of Motion Picture workers. His physical strength was such that Arts and Sciences, and the Academy of Tele- he was unfazed by long night shoots or the vision Arts and Sciences. toughest locations. Andy was a mentor and inspiration to When we filmed Comeback in Thaian entire generation of cinematographers. land, weeks of handheld shooting in swelHe traveled the world conducting seminars tering heat and humidity had many of the on his own, and training aspiring cinematog- crew losing weight at an alarming rate, but raphers as part of Eastman Kodak’s Student Andy’s rugged frame hadn’t lost a pound. He Filmmaker Program. He changed my life looked at me and said very seriously, “I was when he visited Dartmouth College, where once as scrawny as you.” I didn’t understand his lecture, originally scheduled for one hour, what he meant until years later, when I read lasted two days. Several years later, he hired his autobiography, A Footnote to History , me on Top of the Hill. That led to a long run which revealed how he had overcome all of jobs together and a lifetime of friendship. obstacles with unimaginable courage. After retiring in 1994, Andy pursued László András was born on Jan. 12, his hobbies of fly-fishing, inventing, wood1926, in Pápa, Hungary. His studies at a presworking and machining. He also wrote prolif- tigious private school were cut short when
114 December 2011 American Cinematographer

By Jon Fauer, ASC

Fram grab from Cinematographer Style courtesy of Jon Fauer, ASC.

American Cinematographer - December 2011

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