Conrad Hall
Conrad L. Hall (
June 21,
1926 -
January 4,
2003) was a top-billed
Hollywood cinematographer. A three-time
Academy Award-winner, he received Oscars for shooting
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969),
American Beauty (1999), and
Road to Perdition (2002).
Born in
Papeete,
Tahiti,
French Polynesia, he was the son of writer
James Norman Hall and Sarah (Lala) Winchester Hall, who was part-
Polynesian. Hall attended the
University of Southern California intending to study
journalism but drifted instead to the university's cinema school, from which he graduated in
1949. He worked on documentaries, in television (
The Outer Limits) and minor films (including cult classic
Incubus), and as a studio camera operator before moving up to cinematographer in major studio films in the mid
1960s.
Hall died in 2003 due to complications from bladder
cancer. His Oscar nomination and award for his work on
Road to Perdition were posthumous, and his award was accepted by his son,
Conrad W. Hall, who is also a cinematographer.
Hall was and still is affectionately referred to as "Connie" by his peers and associates.
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