László Kovács <small>ASC</small> (; 14 May 1933 – 22 July 2007) was a Hungarian-American cinematographer, known for his influential work in the development of the American New Wave of films in the 1970s, he collaborated with many known directors, especially Peter Bogdanovich and Richard Rush.

Kovács was the recipient of numerous awards, including three Lifetime Achievement Awards. He was also an active member of the American Society of Cinematographers and a member of the organization's board of directors.

Early life

Born in Cece, Hungary, to Julianna and Imre Kovács, Kovács studied cinema at the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest between 1952 and 1956. In November that year, they smuggled the of film into Austria to have it developed, and they arrived in the United States in March 1957 to sell the footage. At the time Kovács would be credited as Leslie Kovacs and Zsigmond as William Zsigmond.

Film career

Kovács' breakthrough came with the 1969 film Easy Rider, starring and directed by Dennis Hopper. Kovács was reluctant to work on this film at first, having already worked on a number of B movie biker films, such as Hells Angels on Wheels. Hopper ultimately convinced Kovács that this film would be different and Kovács signed on as the film's director of photography. He earned second place for the Best Cinematographer Golden Laurel at the 1970 Laurel Awards. In 1970, he again worked with Hopper on the film The Last Movie. That same year, Kovács filmed Five Easy Pieces, for which he received the third place Golden Laurel for Best Cinematographer.

Kovács filmed more than 70 motion pictures. Among these were six films for director Peter Bogdanovich: Targets, What's Up, Doc?, Paper Moon, At Long Last Love, Nickelodeon, and Mask. Bogdanovich worked with Kovács more times than any other cinematographer.

Other notable films Kovács photographed include For Pete's Sake, Shampoo, New York, New York, Ghostbusters, Ruby Cairo, Say Anything..., Radio Flyer, My Best Friend's Wedding, and Miss Congeniality. He also did additional photography on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Last Waltz and The Rose.

When working on The Last Waltz, camera operators were instructed to turn their cameras off at different intervals, in order to save battery life. One of these instances was during Muddy Waters' set, but Waters' outstanding performance led director Martin Scorsese to spontaneously change his mind, and ordered all cameras to be turned on. Because the cameras took several minutes to fully warm up, most caught only the last few bars of Waters' performance. Kovács, however, either did not hear or disregarded orders to shut down his camera, and was the only cameraman on set who managed to film Waters' entire performance.

Kovács' final work appears in Torn from the Flag, a 2006 feature documentary about the 1956 Hungarian Revolution which incorporates original footage he and Zsigmond shot as film students before fleeing to the United States.

Personal life

On July 22, 2007, Kovács died at his home in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 74. At the time of his death, Kovács had been married for 23 years to his wife, Audrey. He had two daughters, Julianna and Nadia, and a granddaughter, Mia.

Kovács was honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards from Camerimage (1998), WorldFest (1999), and the American Society of Cinematographers (2002). The Lifetime Achievement Award from the ASC is the organization's highest honor. In addition, Kovács received an Excellence in Cinematography Award from the 1999 Hawaii International Film Festival and a Hollywood Film Award at the 2001 Hollywood Film Festival.

The American Society of Cinematographers dedicated the 2008 Heritage Award for top student filmmakers in memory of Kovács.

The 2008 documentary film No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos explores the 50-year friendship between Kovács and Zsigmond and their influence on filmmaking. Film critic Leonard Maltin said that, without Kovács and fellow cinematographer Zsigmond, "the American New Wave of the late 1960s and early '70s wouldn’t have flowered as it did."

Filmography

Film

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

|-

| 1964

| Kiss Me Quick!

|rowspan=3|Peter Perry

|

|-

| 1965

| The Wonderful World of Girls

|

|-

|rowspan=3|1966

| The Notorious Daughter of Fanny Hill

|

|-

| A Smell of Honey, a Swallow of Brine

| Byron Mabe

|

|-

| Single Room Furnished

| Matt Cimber

|

|-

| 1967

| Hells Angels on Wheels

|rowspan=4|Richard Rush

|

|-

|rowspan=5|1968

| A Man Called Dagger

|

|-

| Psych-Out

|

|-

| The Savage Seven

|

|-

| Mantis in Lace

| William Rotsler

|

|-

| Targets

| Peter Bogdanovich

|

|-

|rowspan=4|1969

| Mark of the Gun

| Wally Campo<br>Walter Campos

|

|-

| Easy Rider

| Dennis Hopper

|

|-

| Blood of Dracula's Castle

| Al Adamson

|

|-

| That Cold Day in the Park

| Robert Altman

|

|-

|rowspan=5|1970

| The Rebel Rousers

| Martin B. Cohen

| With Glen R. Smith

|-

| Getting Straight

| Richard Rush

|

|-

| Hell's Bloody Devils

| Al Adamson

| With Frank Ruttencutter

|-

| Five Easy Pieces

| Bob Rafelson

|

|-

| Alex in Wonderland

| Paul Mazursky

|

|-

|rowspan=2|1971

| The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker

| Lawrence Turman

|

|-

| The Last Movie

| Dennis Hopper

|

|-

|rowspan=4|1972

| Pocket Money

| Stuart Rosenberg

|

|-

| What's Up, Doc?

| Peter Bogdanovich

|

|-

| The King of Marvin Gardens

| Bob Rafelson

|

|-

| A Reflection of Fear

| William A. Fraker

|

|-

|rowspan=3|1973

| Steelyard Blues

| Alan Myerson

| With Stevan Larner

|-

| Slither

| Howard Zieff

|

|-

| Paper Moon

| Peter Bogdanovich

|

|-

|rowspan=3|1974

| Huckleberry Finn

| J. Lee Thompson

|

|-

| For Pete's Sake

| Peter Yates

|

|-

| Freebie and the Bean

| Richard Rush

|

|-

|rowspan=2|1975

| Shampoo

| Hal Ashby

|

|-

| At Long Last Love

| Peter Bogdanovich

|

|-

|rowspan=3|1976

| Baby Blue Marine

| John D. Hancock

|

|-

| Harry and Walter Go to New York

| Mark Rydell

|

|-

| Nickelodeon

| Peter Bogdanovich

|

|-

| 1977

| New York, New York

| Martin Scorsese

|

|-

|rowspan=2|1978

| F.I.S.T.

| Norman Jewison

|

|-

| Paradise Alley

| Sylvester Stallone

|

|-

|rowspan=2|1979

| Butch and Sundance: The Early Days

| Richard Lester

|

|-

| The Runner Stumbles

| Stanley Kramer

|

|-

|rowspan=2|1980

| Heart Beat

| John Byrum

|

|-

| Inside Moves

| Richard Donner

|

|-

| 1981

| The Legend of the Lone Ranger

| William A. Fraker

|

|-

|rowspan=2|1982

| Frances

| Graeme Clifford

|

|-

| The Toy

| Richard Donner

|

|-

|rowspan=2|1984

| Crackers

| Louis Malle

|

|-

| Ghostbusters

| Ivan Reitman

|

|-

| 1985

| Mask

| Peter Bogdanovich

|

|-

| 1986

| Legal Eagles

| Ivan Reitman

|

|-

| 1988

| Little Nikita

| Richard Benjamin

|

|-

| 1989

| Say Anything...

| Cameron Crowe

|

|-

| 1991

| Shattered

| Wolfgang Petersen

|

|-

|rowspan=2|1992

| Radio Flyer

| Richard Donner

|

|-

| Ruby Cairo

| Graeme Clifford

|

|-

|rowspan=2|1994

| The Next Karate Kid

| Christopher Cain

|

|-

| The Scout

| Michael Ritchie

|

|-

|rowspan=2|1995

| Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home

| Dwight H. Little

|

|-

| Copycat

| Jon Amiel

|

|-

| 1996

| Multiplicity

| Harold Ramis

|

|-

| 1997

| My Best Friend's Wedding

| P. J. Hogan

|

|-

| 1998

| Jack Frost

| Troy Miller

|

|-

|rowspan=2|2000

| Return to Me

| Bonnie Hunt

|

|-

| Miss Congeniality

| Donald Petrie

|

|-

| 2002

| Two Weeks Notice

| Marc Lawrence

|

|-

|}

I Credited as "Lester Kovacs"<br>

II Credited as "Art Radford"<br>

III Credited as "Leslie Kovacs"<br>

IV Credited as "Leslie Kovacks"<br>

V Credited as "Leslie Kouvacs"

Short film

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year

! Title

! Director

|-

| 1969

| A Day with the Boys

| Clu Gulager

|-

| 1978

| Mummenschanz

| James Talbot

|}

Television

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

|-

| 1976

| Family

| Mark Rydell

| Episode "Pilot: The Best Years"

|}

Documentary works

Film

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

|-

| 1957

| Ungarn in Flammen

| Stefan Erdélyi

| With Vilmos Zsigmond and Franz Vass (credited as "Ferencz Vass")

|-

| 1967

| Mondo Mod

| Peter Perry

| With Vilmos Zsigmond (credited as "William Zsigmond")

|-

| 1971

| Directed by John Ford

| Peter Bogdanovich

| With Brick Marquard, David Sammons, Gregory Sandor,<br>Eric Sherman and Patrick Alexander Stewart

|-

| 2000

| Ljuset håller mig sällskap

| Carl-Gustav Nykvist

|

|-

| 2007

| Torn from the Flag

| Endre Hules<br>Klaudia Kovacs

| With Zoltan Honti, Justin Schein and Vilmos Zsigmond

|-

|}

V Credited as "Leslie Kouvacs"

TV series

  • National Geographic Specials (1965)
  • The March of Time (1965)

TV movies

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

|-

| 1968

| Making of the President 1968

| Mel Stuart<br>Robert Abel<br>Fritz Roland

| With Dick Blofson and Vilis Lapenieks

|-

| 1969

| Los Angeles: Where It's At

| Jerome Jacobs<br>Gary Schlosser

| With Robert Cirace and J. Barry Herron

|-

| 1980

| Making Xanadu: The Musical Fantasy Movie

| Alan Metter

| With Vilmos Zsigmond

|}

III Credited as "Leslie Kovacs"<br>

References

  • Brief biography and credits
  • Giardina, Carolyn. (2007) Cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs dies at 74 The Hollywood Reporter
  • László Kovács at the Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers
  • International Cinematographers' Guild Biography
  • No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos. Independent Lens, PBS broadcast November 17, 2009.