Haskell Wexler

Two-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler was adjudged one of the ten most influential cinematographers in movie history, according to an International Cinematographers Guild survey of its membership. He won his Oscars in both black & white and color, for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) (1966) and Bound for Glory (1976) (1976).

Cinematographer for two Oscar Best Picture winners: In the Heat of the Night (1967) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and five other nominees: America America (1963), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The Conversation (1974) (uncredited), Bound for Glory (1976) and Coming Home (1978).

In addition to his masterful cinematography, Wexler directed the seminal late Sixties film Medium Cool (1969) and has directed and/or shot many documentaries that display his progressive political views.

He also shot part of Days of Heaven (1978) (1978), for which credited director of photography Nestor Almendros -- won a Best Cinematography Oscar that Wexler initially felt should have been jointly shared by both. Later he admitted he was just finishing the work of Almendros and when Bert Schneider offer him more credit in the Criterion Dvd release of the film, he turned down the offer.

In 1993, Wexler was awarded a Lifetime Achivement award by the cinematographer's guild, the American Society of Cinematographers. He received five Oscar nominations for his cinematography, in total, plus one Emmy Award in a career that has spanned six decades.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7070 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 28, 1996.

"America America" director Elia Kazan (at age 54, b:09/07/1909) did not personally like the cinema-photographer director Haskell Wexler (at age 41, b:02/06/1922) but listened to him and learned a lot while they worked together.

Honored by University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, The Haskell Wexler Endowed Chair in Documentary, established through the generosity of the George Lucas Family Foundation, dedication and installation on September 25, 2016.