American Cinematographer - May 1992 - 90

In Memoriam

Nestor Almendros, ASC, whose cin¬

ematography earned him international ac¬
claim, died at his Manhattan home

on

March 4. He was 61 and had been suffering
from lymphoma for several months, ac¬

cording to frequent collaborator Robert

Industria Cinematografica. He soon became
disillusioned with Castro's Communist re¬

gime, which proved to be as cruel and
domineering as the previous government.
Again he left Cuba, this time
moving to Paris, where he was attracted by

Benton, who di¬
rected Almendros'

debut, Headin'South. He returned to France
for 1980's Le dernier metro (The Last

last completed film,

Metro), which earned him a "Cesar," the
French equivalent of an Oscar, and Outremer, photographed in Morocco.
Still of the Night (1981), with
Meryl Streep, Roy Scheider and Jessica
Tandy, was Almendros' first collaboration

Billy Bathgate.
Almendros,
who called his style

"simplicity," cham¬
pioned the cause of
"natural light" as
being preferable in

with writer-director Robert Benton. An ex¬
cellent suspense drama reminiscent of the

most instances to

the artificial

light of

Val Lewton productions of the 1940s, it gave
Almendros an opportunity to adapt his
naturalistic style to the atmosphere of the
film noir. Sophie's Choice (1982), starring

the studio. "As with

impressionism,
when tubes

Academy Award. He received other Acad¬
emy nominations for Kramer vs. Kramer
(1978) and The Blue Lagoon (1979)- the
latter a childish South Seas fantasy re¬
deemed only by Almendros' exquisite
pictorialism. In Hollywood in 1977 he also
photographed Jack Nicholson's directorial

were

invented that per¬
mitted painters to go outdoors and catch
instant light," he stated, "so when fast
lenses came, the moment came for natural

light." He shunned the use of lens filters of
any kind. It was his belief that the contri¬
butions of a good cinematographer begin
long before the start of principal photogra¬
phy, in the selection of sets, locations and

the work of the "New Wave" filmmakers.
He worked in TV and documentary films for
a time. From 1964 his career accelerated
when he became associated with several

leading European directors, including

Born in Barcelona in 1930,
Almendros moved to Havana in 1948 to join

Francois Truffaut, BarbetSchroeder, Claude
Chabrol and Eric Rohmer. In 1967, for
American International, he filmed The Wild
Racers in France, Spain and England.
There was international acclaim
for his work in Truffaut's L'enfantsauvage

his father, a Republican

(which earned him the National Association

costumes.

loyalist who had left
Spain at the end of the Spanish Civil War.

of Film Critics' award for best

Meryl Streep and directed by Alan J. Pakula,
brought Almendros another Academy
nomination.

Following the French productions
Pauline a la plage and Viviente dimanchel,
Almendros went to Texas in 1984 for what
he called his favorite film, Places in the

Heart, directed by Robert Benton. He then
trekked to France, where he co-wrote and
co-directed Mauvaise conduite, a docu¬

mentary about the evils of Castro that be¬
prize winner at the Salzburg festival.
In 1985 he made Heartburn for Mike

came a

There he made a number of amateur mov¬
ies in 8mm and 16mm and attended Havana

cinematog¬
raphy) and BedandBoardilSlO), as well as
Rohmer's My Night at Maud's (1969, an¬

Nichols, following with Benton's Nadine
(1987) in Austin, Texas. He co-produced and

University briefly. He moved

other NAFC winner) and Claire's Knee

Listened, a harrowing account of the Castro

(1970). When time permitted he also made
short subjects, some of which he wrote and

regime, in 1988. Another documentary.
Imagine: John Lennon, followed.
1991 's Billy Bathgate was a

Rome,
where he became a student-also briefly
at the Centro Sperimentale di
Cinematografia. Almost from the first he
on to

-

clashed with his instructors because he
believed their approach to cinematography
was too conservative. Moving to the United

States in the late 1950s, he taught Spanish
at Vassar for two years.

Heaven, which

When Cuban revolutionaries led

by Fidel Castro overthrew the oppressive
Batista dictatorship, Almendros returned to
Havana and made several documentary
films for the Instituto Cubano di Arte

American

Cinematographer

directed. In the U. S. he photographed The
Gentleman Tramp in 1973 for Richard
Patterson and Cockfighter for Monte
Heilman.
In 1976 he photographed Days of

e

direction

was

made in Canada with

by Terence Malick and additional
cinematography by Haskell Wexler, ASC.
Almendros' style, making the most of
natural lighting effects and the strange
colors of the "magic hour," won him an

May 1992

co-directed the

award-winning Nobody

filmic version of E. L. Doctorow's acclaimed
novel. The picture starred Dustin Hoffman
as Dutch Schultz. Shortly before his death,
Almendros made some "pick-up" shots for
The Mambo Kings, at Benton's request.
An autobiography, A Man With
Camera, was published in 1984. The book
has been revised and reprinted in several
languages.
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a
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