Haskell Wexler

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Haskell Wexler, A.S.C. (born February 6, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois) is an Academy Award-winning American cinematographer, and a film producer and director. Wexler was judged to be one of film history's ten most influential cinematographers in a survey of the members of the International Cinematographers Guild.

Early life and education

Wexler was born in Chicago, Illinois, as were his parents, Simon and Lottie Wexler, whose children included Jerrold, Joyce (Isaacs), and Yale.

After a year of college at the University of California, Berkeley and a tour in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II, Wexler decided to become a filmmaker, despite having had no experience in the industry.

Film career

He briefly made industrial films in Chicago, then in 1947 became an assistant cameraman. Wexler worked on documentary features and shorts; low-budget docu-dramas such as 1959's The Savage Eye; television's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet; and TV commercials. (He would later found Wexler-Hall, a television commercial production company, with Conrad Hall.)

In 1963, Wexler served as the cinematographer on his first big-budget film, Elia Kazan's America, America. The film had a stunning look, and Kazan was nominated for a Best Director Academy Award. Wexler worked steadily in Hollywood thereafter. Wexler was cinematographer of Mike Nichols' screen version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), for which he won the last Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Black & White).^[1]

He won a second Oscar for Bound for Glory (1976), a biography of Woody Guthrie (whom Wexler had met during his time in the Merchant Marines). Bound for Glory was one of the earliest feature films in which the cinematographer used the steadicam, in a famous sequence that also incorporated a crane shot. Wexler was also credited as additional cinematographer on Days of Heaven (1978), which won a Best Cinematography Oscar for Nestor Almendros. Wexler was also featured on the soundtrack of the film Underground, recorded on Folkways Records in 1976.

He has worked on documentaries throughout his career. The 1980 documentary Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang earned an Emmy Award; Interview with My Lai Veterans won an Academy Award. His most recent documentaries are Bus Riders' Union and Who Needs Sleep.

Wexler has also directed fictional movies. Medium Cool (1969), a film written by Wexler and shot in the cinéma vérité style, is studied by film students all over the world for its breakthrough form. It influenced more than a generation of filmmakers. The making of Medium Cool was the subject of a BBC documentary, Look Out Haskell, It's Real: The Making of Medium Cool.

Produced by Lucasfilm, Wexler's film Latino was chosen for the 1985 Cannes Film Festival. He both wrote and directed the work. Another directing project was From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks, an intimate exploration of the life and times of Harry Bridges, an extraordinary labor leader and social visionary described as "a hero or the devil incarnate, it all depends on your point of view." [1]

In 1988, Wexler won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography for the John Sayles film Matewan, for which he was also nominated for an Academy Award. His work with Billy Crystal in the 2001 HBO film 61* was nominated for an Emmy.

Legacy and honors (career awards)

• In 1993, Wexler won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers, the first active cameraman to be awarded.
• In 1996 he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the first cinematographer in 35 years to be so honored.
• In 2005, Wexler was the subject of a documentary, Tell Them Who You Are, directed by his son, Mark Wexler.
• In 2007, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Independent Documentary Association and the same from the Society of Operating Cameramen.

He is the step-uncle of actresses Daryl Hannah and Page Hannah.

Selected filmography

Frequent collaborators

• John Sayles
• Hal Ashby
• Norman Jewison

External links

• Haskell Wexler at the Internet Movie Database
• ""Look out Haskell, it's real!" The Making of Medium Cool". Archived from the original on 2007-02-23. http://web.archive.org/web/20070223134149/http://www.thestickingplace.com/film/lohir.html. 
• Hasell Wexler, ASC, Focuses on the Making of Matewan
• John Patterson, "Through a lens darkly", The Guardian, interview, 2 June 2006
• Underground Album Details at Smithsonian Folkways

References