Richard Leiterman
Richard Leiterman | |
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Born | South Porcupine,Ontario, Canada | March 7, 1935
Died | July 14, 2005 Vancouver,British Columbia, Canada | (aged 70)
Richard Leiterman(March 7, 1935 – July 14, 2005) was a Canadiancinematographer,[1]best known fordocumentaryandfeature filmwork in the 1960s and 1970s. Hiscinéma vérité,or direct camera, style helped defineCanadian cinemaat the time.
Biography
[edit]Born in the small town ofSouth Porcupine[2]in northernOntarioin 1935, the brother of film producerDouglas Leiterman.He grew up inVancouver,where he spent his young years working as awaste collector,beachcomberandtruck driver.During his mid-20s, he was encouraged by his brother-in-law,Allan King,to take a camera technician course at theUniversity of British Columbia.
Leiterman took to thefilm cameralike a natural. He sold his car to buy a 16mm camera, and proceeded to shootstock footage,which he then sold to Canadian broadcasters like theCBC.Hired by Allan King as a secondcamera operatoron a documentary, Leiterman went toLondonand, in 1962, co-founded Allan King Associates with him. The company focused on news-related filmmaking. In 1963, Leiterman went to the Southern U.S. to shootOne More River,a look atracismin America. Over the next few years, his documentary work took him around the world.
In 1969, Leiterman shot the Allan King-producedA Married Couple,which was featured at theDirector's Fortnightat the1970 Cannes Film Festival.Leiterman next began a series of collaborations with famed Canadian directorDonald Shebib,starting with the Canadian classicGoin' Down the Road(1970), and followed byBetween Friends(1973) andWedding in White(1972). Leiterman used his documentary experience to provide a cinéma vérité look to his work.
Leiterman continued to shoot a variety of material over the following three decades, from Canadian features such asMy American Cousin(1985) to Americanmade-for-TV moviessuch asStephen King'sIt(1990). Hiscinematographywork earned him aCanadian Film Award(1975) aGenie Award,(1981), threeEmmy Awards,and, in 2000, the Kodak New Century Award.
During the late 1990s, Leiterman shot the Canadian TV seriesCold Squad.He taught cinematography for a brief time in theAdvanced TV & Filmprogram and Media Arts program atSheridan CollegeinOakville, Ontario,then finally retired.[3]
Leiterman died in Vancouver on July 14, 2005, at age 70 due to complications from a rare disease calledamyloidosis.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ Reid, Alison (1978).Richard Leiterman.Canadian Film Series. Canadian Film Institute. pp.120.ISBN0919096026.
- ^ "Trial by fire, an interview with Richard Leiterman",Take One (Canadian film magazine),2002,retrievedApril 1,2014
- ^ab"Richard Leiterman".Toronto Star.July 17, 2005. p. 22.RetrievedJune 20,2024– via Newspapers.com.