Vilmos Zsigmond Filmography

Born:: June 16, 1930 in Czeged, Hungary
Occupation:: Cinematographer
Biography:: Hungarian-born cinematographer Vilmos (William) Zsigmond, who graduated from the Budapest Film School, emigrated to the United States following the brutal Russian repression of the 1956 Hungarian uprising. He moved up from still photographer and laboratory technician to cinematographer during the...Read More

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Cassandra's Dream

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Hayley Atwell, Colin Farrell, Sally Hawkins, Ewan McGregor, Tom Wilkinson

Synopsis: Director Woody Allen continued to work in the dark mold of his 2005 thriller Match Point with this suspenseful tale of two brothers (Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor) transformed into mortal enemies after scheming to alleviate their financial difficulties by turning to crime. Ian (McGregor) and Read More

1/18/08
The Black Dahlia

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Mia Kirshner

Synopsis: Director Brian De Palma returns to the helm for the first time since 2002's Femme Fatale with this stylish screen adaptation of James Ellroy's novel detailing one of the most notorious unsolved murders in Hollywood history. Elizabeth Short (Mia Kirshner) was a struggling actress looking to make a Read More

9/15/06
Cinematographer Style

Actors: Remi Adefarasin, Russ T. Alsobrook, Howard A. Anderson III, Peter Anderson

Synopsis: Over a hundred leading cameramen (and women) discuss the fine art of motion picture photography in this documentary. Cinematographer Style is compiled from interviews with a broad cross section of respected cinematographers, ranging from award-winning veterans such as Gordon Willis (The Read More

2006
Melinda and Melinda

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Radha Mitchell, Chloë Sevigny, Jonny Lee Miller, Will Ferrell, Amanda Peet

Synopsis: While Woody Allen has long fused comedy and drama in his films, he embraces the two styles in a new and unusual way in this feature. Sy (Wallace Shawn) is enjoying dinner with some friends when they begin debating the nature of the tragic and the humorous. Sy, observing that a very fine line Read More

3/18/05
Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession

Synopsis: The Z Channel wasn't America's first premium cable outlet specializing in feature films, and it wasn't the most commercially successful, but few, if any, had as strong an impact on the film industry or a more influential list of customers. Based in California and blanketing sections of the state Read More

10/15/04
Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate

Synopsis: In 1979, Michael Cimino went from being a director with one obscure Clint Eastwood action film and a handful of television commercials to his credit to one of the hottest talents in Hollywood, all on the strength of one film, The Deer Hunter. A multiple Oscar winner, a box-office success, and a Read More

10/8/04
Jersey Girl

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, Raquel Castro, George Carlin

Synopsis: Writer and director Kevin Smith embraces his warm and fuzzy side with this comedy drama about a man who learns a lot about life and love in the wake of a personal tragedy. Ollie Trinke (Ben Affleck) is a guy who seemingly has it made -- he has a great job as a music publicist with a major Read More

3/26/04
Timeline

Crew: Additional Cinematography

Actors: Paul Walker, Frances O'Connor, Gerard Butler, Billy Connolly, David Thewlis

Synopsis: Directing his first film since 1998's Lethal Weapon 4, Richard Donner helmed this big-budget adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel of the same name. Featuring a script by first-time screenwriter George Nolfi, Timeline begins in France in the near future. A group of students from Yale are there Read More

11/26/03
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls

Actors: Dede Allen, Peter Bart, Andrew Cohen, Tony Bill, Karen Black

Synopsis: Based upon Peter Biskind's book of the same name, this BBC-produced documentary traces the rise of a generation of Hollywood filmmakers who briefly changed the face of movies with a more personal approach that pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable onscreen. Influenced by such European Read More

2003
Bank Ban

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Eva Marton, Andrea Rost, Atilla Kiss B., Sandor Solymon-Nagy, Kolos Kovats

Synopsis: Csaba Kael's adaptation of the famous opera, Bank Ban was shot by revered cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond on (with one exception) actual location. Set during the reign of Endre the Second (Kolos Kovats), the story line follows a variety of intrigues among the powerful. Endre's brother Otto (Denes Gulyas Read More

2002
The Body

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Antonio Banderas, Olivia Williams, John Shrapnel, Derek Jacobi, Jason Flemyng

Synopsis: In this religious drama concerning the struggle between science and faith, Olivia Williams plays Sharon Golban, an Israeli archeologist who discovers a skeleton within a tomb in Jerusalem. After an intensive study and the accumulation of more information, the bones begin to resemble the remains of Read More

4/20/01
The Mists of Avalon

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Anjelica Huston, Julianna Margulies, Joan Allen, Samantha Mathis, Caroline Goodall

Synopsis: This three-hour miniseries adapts Marion Zimmer Bradley's feminist recasting of the Arthurian mythos into a big-budget cable television event. In ancient England, Christianity is spreading and the Saxons are invading. It's up to Viviane (Anjelica Huston) -- Lady of the Lake and high priestess of Read More

2001
Light Keeps Me Company

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Woody Allen, Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson, Richard Attenborough

Synopsis: This moving, finely-wrought portrayal of legendary cinematographer Sven Nykvist was directed by his son Carl-Gustav Nykvist -- a noted filmmaker himself. Spanning from long forgotten kiddie flick in 1945 to Woody Allen's Celebrity (1997), Nykvist's career came to an abrupt end when he was Read More

2000
The Ghost and the Darkness

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Michael Douglas, Val Kilmer, Tom Wilkinson, Om Puri, John Kani, Bernard Hill

Synopsis: A man bringing modern transportation to the ancient jungles of Africa discovers one of man's oldest enemies lays in wait for him in this period adventure drama. John Beaumont (Tom Wilkinson) is the owner of a British railroad firm who is building a rail line through Uganda. A bridge is needed so Read More

1996
The Crossing Guard

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Jack Nicholson, David Morse, Anjelica Huston, Robin Wright Penn, Piper Laurie

Synopsis: Sean Penn wrote and directed this tale of loss, guilt, and revenge. The daughter of Freddy and Mary Gale (Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston) was killed by a drunk driver, John Booth (David Morse). The death of their child took a heavy toll on the Gales; their marriage broke up, and, while Mary Read More

1995
Assassins

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Banderas, Julianne Moore, Anatoly Davydov

Synopsis: Lethal Weapon director Richard Donner helms this action-adventure yarn in which Robert Rath (Sylvester Stallone), a veteran, burned-out hit man for hire who's looking to leave his profession, meets a younger, crazier, more ambitious competitor, Miguel Bain (Antonio Banderas), who is out to best Read More

1995
Intersection

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Richard Gere, Sharon Stone, Lolita Davidovich, Martin Landau, David Selby

Synopsis: A man who may be on the verge of death quickly takes a thorough look at his life in this drama. Vincent Eastman (Richard Gere) is speeding along a mountain road in Canada when, while swerving to avoid a stalled van, he discovers that he's about to run headfirst into a trailer truck. As he's about Read More

1994
Maverick

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Noah Emmerich, Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, James Garner, Graham Greene, James Coburn

Synopsis: A gunslinging con man develops a tricky scheme to make a killing at a major poker tournament in this comic Western inspired by the popular television show. Mel Gibson assumes the role of Bret Maverick, the handsome rogue who hopes to cheat his way to success. In need of a large stake to enter a Read More

1994
Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography

Actors: Néstor Almendros, John A. Alonzo, Michael Ballhaus, Stephen H. Burum, Sven Nykvist, Vittorio Storaro, Haskell Wexler, Gordon Willis

Synopsis: The film equivalent of a stroll through the Louvre, the documentary Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography collects interviews with many of modern-day Hollywood's finest directors of photography and is illustrated by examples of their best work as well as scenes from the pictures which most Read More

1993
Sliver

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Sharon Stone, William Baldwin, Tom Berenger, Polly Walker, Colleen Camp

Synopsis: Phillip Noyce directed Joe Eszterhas's adaptation of Ira Levin's novel about voyeurism, starring Sharon Stone as Carly Norris, a book editor on the rebound from an emotionless seven-year marriage. Carly decides that a change of location will help her in the healing process, so she moves into a Read More

1993
Stalin

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Robert Duvall, Julia Ormond, Jeroen Krabbé, Joan Plowright, Maximilian Schell

Synopsis: The made-for-cable film Stalin relates the story of the ruthless Soviet dictator and his tyrannical rule. Robert Duvall gives an excellent performance as the dictator and the photography is beautiful, as are the sets, since much of the movie was shot on location in Russia. The screenplay also does Read More

1992
Long Shadow

Crew: Director

Actors: Michael York, Liv Ullmann, Oded Teomi, Ava Haddad, Babi Neeman

Synopsis: Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond made his directorial debut with this drama. Gabor (Michael York), a stage actor living in Eastern Europe, receives a message from his family -- his father Raphael (also played by York), a world-famous archeologist, has just died in Israel. Traveling to Read More

1992
The Bonfire of the Vanities

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Kim Cattrall, Saul Rubinek, Morgan Freeman

Synopsis: Brian De Palma's Hollywood sanitization of Tom Wolfe's scabrous satire stars Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, the "master of the universe," a shallow Wall Street investor who makes millions while enjoying the good life and the sexual favors of Maria Ruskin (Melanie Griffith), a Southern belle Read More

12/19/90
The Two Jakes

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Meg Tilly, Madeleine Stowe, Eli Wallach

Synopsis: The Two Jakes is the much-delayed and rather convoluted sequel to the 1975 classic Chinatown. Released in 1990 after an abortive stab at shooting that began in the mid-'80s, the film was the subject of a creative feud between its principals, star Jack Nicholson, producer Robert Evans, and Read More

8/10/90
Fat Man & Little Boy

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Paul Newman, Dwight Schultz, Bonnie Bedelia, John Cusack, Laura Dern

Synopsis: "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" were the nicknames given the atomic bombs that were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the waning days of World War II. This elaborately assembled film is the story of the events leading up to the dawn of the atomic age. Paul Newman plays General Leslie Groves, a Read More

10/20/89
Journey to Spirit Island

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Bettina, Marie Antoinette Rogers, Brandon Douglas, Gabriel Damon, Tarek McCarthy

Synopsis: Superlative photography by Vilimos Zsigismond highlights the family-oriented outdoor drama Journey to Spirit Island. Set in the Pacific Northwest, the films stars Bettina as Maria, a teenaged Native American girl. When her grandmother organizes a protest against defiling their ancestors' sacred Read More

1989
The Witches of Eastwick

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Veronica Cartwright

Synopsis: The Witches of Eastwick, a memorable comedy with a dark edge, is based upon a novel by John Updike. On Thursday nights three female friends -- Alex (Cher), Sukie (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Jane (Susan Sarandon) -- meet to chug martinis, learn Chinese aphrodisiac cooking and lament the scarcity of Read More

6/12/87
Real Genius

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Val Kilmer, Gabe Jarret, Michelle Meyrink, William Atherton, Jon Gries, Patti D'Arbanville

Synopsis: Martha Coolidge directed this comedy taking place at Cal Tech, concerning incoming freshman Mitch (Gabe Jarret), a high school student whose Science Fair project made important inroads into laser beam technology. Mitch has been recruited by famed physics professor Hathaway (William Atherton), who Read More

1985
No Small Affair

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Tim Robbins, Jon Cryer, Demi Moore, George Wendt, Peter Frechette, Elizabeth Daily, Jeffrey Tambor, Jennifer Tilly

Synopsis: This run-of-the-mill teen romantic comedy's main attraction is 22-year-old Demi Moore as Laura Victor, an aspiring rock singer. The slightly younger Jon Cryer is Charles Cummings, a dedicated photographer who meets Laura, falls in love, and decides that a dedication to furthering her career might Read More

1984
The River

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Mel Gibson, Sissy Spacek, Shane Bailey, Becky Jo Lynch, Scott Glenn

Synopsis: This socially conscious family farm drama from director Mark Rydell was his follow up to the Oscar-winning On Golden Pond (1981). Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek star as Tom and Mae Garvey, struggling Tennessee farmers constantly one step away from foreclosing. Their farm sits next to a river that Read More

1984
Table for Five

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Jon Voight, Richard Crenna, Marie-Christine Barrault, Millie Perkins, Roxana Zal

Synopsis: Jon Voight stars in this David Seltzer-scripted sentimental tale about a divorced father who tries to achieve an emotional connection with his children. J.P. Tannen (Jon Voight) is a confused and childish man who, five years earlier, was divorced from his wife Kathleen (Millie Perkins). Kathleen Read More

1983
Jinxed!

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Bette Midler, Ken Wahl, Rip Torn, Val Avery, Jack Elam

Synopsis: Jinxed is an apt name for this disastrous project which, sadly, turned out to be Don Siegel's final film. The film takes place in Reno, where blackjack dealer Willie Brodax (Ken Wahl) becomes an innocent victim of a broken-down gambler named Harold Benson (Rip Torn). Such is Willie's luck that Read More

1982
The Border

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Valerie Perrine, Warren Oates, Elpidia Carrillo

Synopsis: Tom Jones director Tony Richardson might seem a curious choice to direct the contemporary western The Border, but he does his best to emulate Sam Peckinpah. Jack Nicholson stars as an El Paso border guard, saddled with avaricious wife Valerie Perrine. Hoping to stifle her nagging about money Read More

1982
Blow Out

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz, Peter Boyden

Synopsis: Brian De Palma's homage to Michelangelo Antonioni's classic art movie Blow-Up (1966) blends suspense and political paranoia when a Philadelphia soundman inadvertently records a murder. Former police technician Jack Terri (John Travolta) makes his living doing sound for slasher flicks. While Read More

1981
Heaven's Gate

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert, Sam Waterston, John Hurt, Brad Dourif

Synopsis: A notorious artistic and financial failure, Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate was blamed for critically wounding the movie Western and definitively ushering out the 1970s Hollywood New Wave of young, brash, independent filmmakers. Taking a revisionist, post-Vietnam view of American imperialism Read More

1981
Flesh and Blood

Crew: Cinematographer

Synopsis: Adapted from the novel by Pete Hamill, Flesh and Blood stars Tom Berenger as Bobby Fallon, a street punk who develops into a topnotch boxer while in prison. Upon his release, Bobby is taken under the wing of manager John Cassavetes. Outwardly tough and unmovable, Bobby is tortured with memories of Read More

1979
The Rose

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Bette Midler, Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest, Harry Dean Stanton, Barry Primus

Synopsis: Bette Midler stars as Rose in this somber drama loosely based on the life of the late Janis Joplin. She plays an ill-fated singer who succumbs to the pressures of performing by indulging in drugs and alcohol. Her sweetheart Dyer (Frederic Forrest) is the former chauffeur who naively tries to save Read More

1979
Winter Kills

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Sterling Hayden, Eli Wallach

Synopsis: Based on a novel by the iconoclastic Richard Condon (of Manchurian Candidate and Prizzi's Honor fame), Winter Kills was one of the vanguard efforts in the "JFK conspiracy" school of literature. Jeff Bridges stars as Nick Kegan, the scion of a powerful Kennedyesque family, who has done his best to Read More

1979
The Deer Hunter

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Robert De Niro, John Cazale, John Savage, Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken

Synopsis: One of several 1978 films dealing with the Vietnam War (including Hal Ashby's Oscar-winning Coming Home), Michael Cimino's epic second feature The Deer Hunter was both renowned for its tough portrayal of the war's effect on American working class steel workers and notorious for its ahistorical use Read More

1978
The Last Waltz

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, Van Morrison, Emmylou Harris, Ringo Starr, Neil Young, Eric Clapton

Synopsis: Martin Scorsese's documentary of the 1976 final performance of the legendary Sixties rock group The Band is at once a show featuring some of the greatest rock performers of their generation and a bittersweet look back at an era that was just beginning to fade. As Scorsese guides the group through Read More

1978
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, Cary Guffey, Bob Balaban

Synopsis: Steven Spielberg followed Jaws (1975), his first major box-office success, with this epic science fiction adventure about a disparate group of people who attempt to contact alien intelligence. Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) is an electrical lineman who, while sent out on emergency repairs, witnesses Read More

1977
Obsession

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Stanley Reyes, Cliff Robertson, Geneviève Bujold, John Lithgow, Sylvia "Kuumba" Williams, Wanda Blackman

Synopsis: Love never dies in Brian De Palma's psychological thriller, though money certainly complicates matters. Rich New Orleans real estate developer Michael Courtland (Cliff Robertson) lost his beloved wife Elizabeth (Genevieve Bujold) and their daughter during a botched kidnap rescue, after he chose to Read More

1976
Dandy, the All American Girl

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Stockard Channing, Sam Waterston, Richard Doughty, Norman Matlock, Franklyn Ajaye

Synopsis: Sweet Revenge was originally shipped out as Dandy, the All-American Girl. The multitalented Stockard Channing plays a car thief with a penchant for elaborate disguises. She hopes to trade in her stolen goods and purchase a snazzy sports model for herself. Sam Waterston costars as a public defender Read More

1976
Death Riders

Crew: Cinematographer

Synopsis: This documentary video looks at the daring exploits of the "Death Riders," the daredevils from this traveling thrill show and their dangerous stunts on motorcycles and in automobiles. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

1976
The Sugarland Express

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, Michael Sacks, William Atherton, Gregory Walcott

Synopsis: Based on an actual incident, Steven Spielberg's first theatrical feature follows the adventures of a Texas outlaw couple striving to keep their family together by any means necessary. Determined not to lose her child to the authorities, Lou Jean Poplin (Goldie Hawn) gets her obedient convict Read More

1974
The Girl from Petrovka

Crew: Cinematographer

Synopsis: A graceful Russian ballerina falls in love with an American news correspondent in this comedy-drama. The KGB is most displeased and does everything it can to break them up and eventually, tragically, they succeed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1974
The Long Goodbye

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Elliott Gould, Nina Van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Henry Gibson, Mark Rydell

Synopsis: "It's OK with me...." Applying his deconstructive eye to the "film noir" tradition, Robert Altman updated Raymond Chandler in his 1973 version of Chandler's novel, The Long Goodbye. Smart-aleck, cat-loving private eye Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) is certain that his friend Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton Read More

1973
Scarecrow

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, Dorothy Tristan, Ann Wedgeworth, Richard Lynch

Synopsis: An ex-con learns the value of friendship in Jerry Schatzberg's picaresque road movie. Trying to hitch a ride on a desolate California road, fresh-out-of-prison Max (Gene Hackman) meets ex-sailor Lion (Al Pacino). They are both headed east, as Max dreams of opening a deluxe car wash in Pittsburgh Read More

1973
Cinderella Liberty

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Kirk Calloway, Marsha Mason, Eli Wallach, James Caan

Synopsis: A "Cinderella Liberty" is Navy jargon for a pass that runs out at midnight. Sailor John Baggs, Jr. (James Caan) has such a pass, and intends to make the most of it while his ship is docked in Seattle. He "wins" prostitute Maggie (Marsha Mason) in a pool game, but backs off at a "wham-bam-thank you Read More

1973
Blood of Ghastly Horror

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: John Carradine

Synopsis: Al Adamson, shameless purveyor of countless horror anti-classics, juggles around most of the footage from his 1965 clunker Psycho-A-Go-Go after dressing up and re-releasing it on no less than three prior occasions (under a wide assortment of titles -- see below) with a few incomprehensible Read More

1972
Images

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Susannah York, René Auberjonois, Marcel Bozzuffi, Hugh Millais, Cathryn Harrison

Synopsis: A woman walks a razor's edge between reality and madness in this impressionistic drama written and directed by Robert Altman. Cathryn (Susannah York) is a woman who begins to suspect that her marriage to Hugh (René Auberjonois) is falling apart after receiving a mysterious phone call from a friend Read More

1972
Deliverance

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox

Synopsis: Adapted from James Dickey's popular novel, John Boorman's 1972 movie recounts the grueling psychological and physical journey taken by four city slickers down a river in the backwoods of Georgia. At the behest of Iron John-esque Lewis (Burt Reynolds), the less adventuresome Ed (Jon Voight), Bobby (Ned Beatty Read More

1972
The Hired Hand

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Verna Bloom, Robert Pratt, Severn Darden

Synopsis: Meeting largely mixed reviews during its first run in 1971, counterculture icon Peter Fonda's directorial debut was restored and remastered for its 30-year anniversary. The film opens with three drifters greeting the morning by cavorting in a sun-dabbled mountain river. Harry Collings (Fonda) Read More

1971
McCabe & Mrs. Miller

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, René Auberjonois, William Devane, Shelley Duvall, John Schuck, Corey John Fischer

Synopsis: Memorably described by Pauline Kael as "a beautiful pipe dream of a movie," Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller reimagines the American West as a muddy frontier filled with hustlers, opportunists, and corporate sharks -- a turn-of-the-century model for a 1971 America mired in violence and lies. Read More

1971
The Ski Bum

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Charlotte Rampling, Zalman King