American Cinematographer

Conrad Hall was born on June 21st, 1926 in Papeete, Tahiti, and French Polynesia. His father, James Norman Hall, author of “Mutiny on the Bounty”, named him after two writers, Joseph Conrad and Lafcadio Hearn. (1) Conrad Hall went to The University of South Carolina (USC), where he studied filmmaking. Along with two classmates, he formed a production company in which they produced and sold a project to a local television station. Their company moved into making commercials for television, industrial films and shooting location footage for feature films, including a 1953 Disney film, The Living Desert. (1) After working as a camera assistant on a few feature films in the early 1960’s, Hall became a camera operator. Though he had been a cinematographer for television series and movies, he got his first cinematography credit for a theatrical released film in 1965. In 1967, Hall was praised for his rich and complex composition as he was the director of photography for two modern classic films, Cool Hand Luke and In Cold Blood. In 1969 he won his first Academy Award for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. (1)Hall won two more academy awards with his last two films, American Beauty (1999) and Road to Perdition (2002), both of which he teamed up with director Sam Mendez.

On January 4, 2003 at the age of 76, Hall died from complications with bladder cancer. (8)With over 40 cinematography credits to his name, besides the films previously listed, he is best known for his work on Morituri (1965), The Professionals (1966), The Day of the Locust (1975), Tequila Sunrise (1988), Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), and A Civil Action (1998).

Sam Mendez, director of Road to Perdition (2002), dedicated the film to Conrad Hall in loving

memory of the cinematographer. “I’m devastated,” director Sam Mendez says referring to the death of his good friend, "Conrad was not only one of the greatest cinematographers who ever lived but was also a wonderful man who touched