- Born
- Died
- Nicknames
- The Prince of Darkness
- Gordy
- Gordon Willis was an American cinematographer. He's best known for his work on Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather films, as well asWoody Allen's Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979).
His work on the first two Godfather films turned out to be groundbreaking in its use of low-light photography and underexposed film, as well as in his control of lighting and exposure to create the sepia tones that denoted period scenes in The Godfather Part II (1974).
In the seven-year period up to 1977, Willis was the director of photography on six films that received among them 39 Academy Award nominations, winning 19 times, including three awards for Best Picture. During this time he did not receive a single nomination for Best Cinematography.
He directed one film of his own, Windows (1980). His last film as a cinematographer was The Devil's Own (1997), directed by Alan J. Pakula.
Willis died of cancer on May 18, 2014, ten days before his 83rd birthday, at the age of 82.
- IMDb mini biography by: Pedro Borges(updated by John Drake)
- SpouseHelen(1955 - May 18, 2014) (his death, 3 children)
- Known in the film industry as 'The Prince of Darkness', due to his distinct lighting technique of using shadows and often not allowing a character's eyes to be seen clearly (The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), The Parallax View (1974)).
- In a spectacular seven-year period from 1971-77, seven of the films he worked on as director of photography accumulated 39 Oscar nominations with 19 wins. Among these wins were three Best Picture winners (The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974) and Annie Hall (1977)) and six for acting (Jane Fonda, Marlon Brando, John Houseman, Robert De Niro, Jason Robards and Diane Keaton). Incredibly, Willis failed to secure a single nomination for himself during this period.
- His father worked as a make-up artist at Warner Brothers.
- Member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) since 1975.
- He was the cinematographer for five films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), All the President's Men (1976), Annie Hall (1977), The Godfather Part III (1990). Of those, The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974) and Annie Hall (1977) are winners in the category.
- Received an honorary Academy Award in 2009. Other honorees were Lauren Bacall, Roger Corman and Thalberg Award recipient John Calley.
- [on "ruining" footage to create the look of time-ravaged 1920s newsreels] "The lack of perfection, that's the hardest quality of all, because you're fighting your instincts. You're trained to want to do things perfectly."
- [commenting on digital filming] The organics aren't the same. The interpretive levels suffer. Digital is another form of recording an image, but it won't replace thinking.
- I wouldn't say my style is naturalistic. I would say it's reconstructed reality that embellishes what is already there.
- About Manhattan (1979): Woody and I both see New York as a black and white town, and I love shooting wide-screen anamorphic. Put the two together and look in the right direction, and you get the romantic reality of Manhattan.
- You can make the same thing ugly or beautiful, just by choosing what you shoot.
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