Roizman earned the first of five Oscar nominations for his work on “The French Connection,” and followed it up with a series of wide-ranging projects, including an impressive five-film streak of “The Heartbreak Kid,” “The Exorcist,” “The Taking of Pelham 123,” “The Stepford Wives,” and “Three Days of the Condor.” Roizman could shoot action, intrigue, and comedy alike, all with a striking point of view that captured moments that would shape film history. The nightmare-inducing exorcism scenes in “The Exorcist,” the “mad as hell” speech from “Network,” and Dustin Hoffman’s transformation in “Tootsie” all were caught by Roizman’s lens.
The filmmaker had a hand in memorable musical projects, too. He shot the Beatles-inspired jukebox comedy “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” and two of Madonna’s music videos, “Crazy For You” and “Gambler.” Roizman’s last cinematography credit came in 1995, with Kasdan’s “French Kiss,” but he made interesting career choices until the end, seemingly never doing the same sort of project twice. In his latter years on the job, he shot the dark comedy “The Addams Family” as well as 1994’s Western epic “Wyatt Earp.”
In 1976, he moved to Los Angeles and created a TV commercial production company, but eventually returned to making features. The filmmaker was celebrated in 2017 with an honorary Oscar, and earned the American Society of Cinematographers’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.
Roizman had reportedly been in hospice care since August of 2021. He is survived by his wife Mona, sister Frankie, and son Eric, who has taken after his father and grandfather, working as a camera operator on film and TV projects. Roizman’s indelible work moved and thrilled millions, and the classics he made will continue to do so, even now. He will be missed.