John Bailey (1942–2023)

[Jeff Bernstein]

John Bailey (1942–2023) has died, leaving behind him a remarkable body of cinematographic work. Many highly intelligent writer-directors chose Bailey to shoot their films. 1980 was a miracle year in his early career : American Gigolo (for writer-director Paul Schrader), an exquisitely constructed film with director and cinematographer and editor (Richard Halsey) joining to create, shot by shot, a complex American masterpiece. Its state-of-the-art lensing also launched a Hollywood star, Richard Gere. In the same year the Bailey-shot Ordinary People won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (for Robert Redford)—infamously beating out Raging Bull and Scorsese. Bailey shot the painstakingly brilliant Mishima (1985) for Schrader, which won Best Artistic Contribution at Cannes. In 1981 Bailey shot Continental Divide. It was a vehicle for John Belushi, one of the hottest stars at the time, but more noteworthy now as the Lawrence Kasdan script that persuaded Lucas and Spielberg to hire him for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Bailey eventually shot three films for director Kasdan, the last being Accidental Tourist (1988), the final shot of which is arguably one of the most significant close-ups in modern Hollywood cinema. Bailey shot three exceptional movies in the 1990s, two in another miracle year : 1993. In the Line of Fire, with Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich, was the #7 domestic grosser of its year; while the Bill Murray–Andie MacDowell Groundhog Day has not only enjoyed a surprise cultural endurance—it’s included in the National Film Registry—but was also the #12 domestic grosser. Bailey worked on the Norman Mailer curiosity Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1987), an early meme generator. Bailey shot other significant titles over a long career and with other notable directors such as Alan Rudolph, Michael Apted, Stuart Rosenberg, and Walter Hill. The last colossal title Bailey shot was As Good as It Gets (1997) for director James L. Brooks, which won Academy Awards for Best Actor (Jack Nicholson) and Best Actress (Helen Hunt)—successfully taking on James Cameron’s monster-hit Titanic—and was #14 domestic that year. Bailey served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 2017–2019. Curiously—and it seems like a typo—John Bailey was never nominated for an Academy Award. American Gigolo, Mishima, The Accidental Tourist, and As Good as It Gets are unquestionably four unforgettable highlights of modern Hollywood cinema.

[Kim Edward Welch]

In Loving Memory of John Bailey ASC: A Cinematic Maestro Whose Legacy Transcends the Silver Screen https://www.studentfilmmakers.com/insights-into-lighting-and-anamorphic-35mm-shooting/

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Edited November 17, 2023 by Kim Edward Welch

[Karim D. Ghantous]

I thought that Doug Slocombe shot Raiders.

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

Looks like he had a good life and didn't suffer when death arrived.

He is not listed as the DP in Raiders. 

RIP

 

OP...put a few paragraphs in your posts. Makes it easier to read.

 

Edited November 18, 2023 by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.

[Frank Wylie]

John Bailey was a great cinematographer and a great human being.  I had the great privilege of meeting and speaking with him on a visit he paid to the LOC NAVCC in 2017.

It was a shock to hear of his passing.

Godspeed John.

 

[Doyle Smith]

In addition to being a great cinematographer, John was an outstanding and generous human being.