Conrad L. Hall

Conrad Hall
Hall working on the 1992 thriller Jennifer 8.
Born	Conrad Hall (1926-06-21)June 21, 1926 Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Died	January 6, 2003(2003-01-06) (aged 76) Santa Monica, California, USA
Other names	Connie
Occupation	Cinematographer
Years active	1958–2003
Title	ASC
Spouse(s)	Katharine Ross (1969–1975) Virginia Schwartz Susan Kowarsh-Hall (c. 2003)
Children	Conrad W. Hall Kate Hall-Feist Naia Hall-West
Awards	Academy Award for Best Cinematography Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969 American Beauty 1999 Road to Perdition 2002

Katharine Ross (1969–1975)
Virginia Schwartz

Conrad Lafcadio Hall, ASC (June 21, 1926 – January 6, 2003) was an American cinematographer from Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia. Named after writers Joseph Conrad and Lafcadio Hearn, he was best known for photographing films such as In Cold Blood, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, American Beauty, and Road to Perdition. For his work he garnered a number of awards, including three Academy Awards and BAFTA Awards.

In 2003, Hall was judged to be one of history's ten most influential cinematographers in a survey of the members of the International Cinematographers Guild.

He has been given a star in Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame.

Conrad L Hall was born on June 21, 1926 in Papete, Tahiti. His father was James Norman Hall, an ace pilot and captain in the Lafayette escadrille that fought for France in World War I. James also co-wrote Mutiny On The Bounty. His mother was Sarah Winchester Hall. Growing up during the relative infancy of cinema, Hall never was around cameras and the idea of going to the movies was a foreign concept. In his teens, Hall moved from Tahiti to Santa Barbara for prep school.

After prep school, Hall was told by his father to find his path in life. Hall attended the University of Southern California, intending to study journalism, but ended up doing poorly and instead went to cinema school. He wasn’t sure this was the right decision, yet he thought since this was a new art form it would be interesting to start from the bottom. Hall went to the cinema school at a time when Slavko Vorkapić was the head of the program; Hall recalls that “He taught me that film-making was a new visual language. He taught the principles, and left the rest up to us”. After creating his first shots in school he fell in love with the art and wanted to continue telling his stories through imagery. A few people that visited his school during his education at USC were John Huston and Orson Welles. After graduation in 1949 Hall expected to get a job right out of college. At the time, however, Hollywood only allowed the camera crew to be filled with people that were on the International Photographers Guild roster.