Owen Roizman, Cinematographer of ‘The French Connection,’ ‘The Exorcist,’ and More Has Died at 86

Owen Roizman, a groundbreaking cinematographer who lensed a great many essential films over a 25-year career in features, has died, according to a report in Variety. The Brooklyn-born Roizman brought his talents to almost every conceivable genre, from action to horror to Westerns to comedy and even a legendary live concert performance. He worked with directors William Friedkin, Sydney Pollack, Elaine May, Sidney Lumet, Bob Fosse, John Huston, Lawrence Kasdan, and Barry Sonnenfeld. He was nominated for five Academy Awards, and won an honorary award in 2017. He was 86 years old.

Roizman’s father, Sol Roizman, was a cameraman for Movietone News and his uncle, Morrie Roizman, produced short subjects and worked as an editor. He entered the business by working in television commercials, landing his first feature gig as a director of photography with 1970’s Stop! This was Bill Gunn’s directorial debut, and after it received an X rating, it was shelved by Warner Bros. Gunn was only the second African American director of a studio picture at the time; the movie, shot in Puerto Rico and featuring gay love scenes, has since only played at museum screenings.

But clearly, enough people in the industry saw it and liked Roizman’s cinematography. As such, William Friedkin hired him to shoot The French Connection, and the two pretty much changed the way we think about gritty, urban law enforcement. The 1971 film won Oscars for best picture, best director, best actor (Gene Hackman), and best adapted screenplay (Ernest Tidyman), as well as nominations for best editing and Roy Scheider’s supporting role. It was also Roizman’s first nomination for best cinematography. (He lost to Oswald Morris’s work on Fiddler on the Roof.) Fifty years later, the chase scene through Brooklyn under the elevated train more than holds up. 

And much like Popeye Doyle’s automobile, his career floored it from here, notching one essential movie after the other. After The French Connection, he shot the mafia comedy The Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight, based on Jimmy Breslin’s book, then Play It Again, Sam a rare Woody Allen movie (based on his play) that he didn’t direct himself (Herbert Ross did) and which trades his classic New York setting for San Fransisco (there was a film worker’s strike in the Big Apple that summer.) After that, another comedy, this time The Heartbreak Kid for Elaine May starring Charles Grodin, Cybil Shepherd, and Jeannie Berlin. Then came another entertainment landmark.