- Born
- Died
- Nicknames
- William Zsigmond
- Willie
- Along with László Kovács, a fellow student who fled Hungary in 1956, Zsigmond rose to prominence in the 1970s. He is known for his use of natural light and vivid use of color on features such as The Long Goodbye (1973) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
- IMDb mini biography by: <dollarhide@aol.com>
- SpousesElizabeth Fuzes (divorced, 2 children)Susan Roether Zsigmond(? - January 1, 2016) (his death)
- Frequently worked with Robert Altman, Mark Rydell and Woody Allen.
- He and László Kovács shot footage of the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 and then escaped to the US, where they sold the footage to CBS.
- Began his career photographing the Hungarian revolution of 1956. Won several international and domestic awards as director of TV commercials.
- Owns a camera, lighting and grip company in Budapest.
- Member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Cinematographers Branch) [2007-].
- The name, if spelled correctly in Hungarian, should sound like "Vilmosh Zhigmond".
- [on Heaven's Gate (1980)] Michael Cimino really wanted to make a perfect film. He could have made this film for much less. He overdid it; he over-complicated it. But they should not have killed him for it.
- We had a terrible situation on [Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)], because they wanted to fire me several times. The only reason they didn't was because they didn't have a replacement who could take over.
- I like to work with Michael Cimino. I don't like him personally--he's very difficult to work with, because he's very demanding and he doesn't think about anybody around him, he's yelling at everybody. But as a film director, I think he's one of the best.
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