The Late Great Nicolas Roeg

Nicolas Roeg, who directed such classic films as Don't Look Now (1973) and The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), died on November 23 2018 at the age of 90.

Nicolas Roeg was born on August 15 1928 in London. His family lived across from the road from Marleybone Studios. He was around 19 years old when he got a job there, operating the clapperboard. He eventually worked his way up to camera operator, serving in such a capacity on such films as Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951), Circumstantial Evidence (1952), Bhowani Junction (1956), The Man Inside (1958), Tarzan's Great Adventure (1959), The Trial of Oscar Wilde (1960), The Sundowners (1960), and Doctor Blood's Coffin (1961). He was in charge of second unit photography on Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and provided additional photography for Casino Royale (1967).

Eventually Mr. Roeg went from being a camera operator to a cinematographer. His first cinematography credit was on Information Received in 1961. In the Sixties he served as cinematographer on such films as Band of Thieves (1962), The Caretaker (1963), Dr. Crippen (1963), The Masque of the Red Death (1964), The System (1964), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), Far From the Madding Crowd (1967), and Petulia (1968).

It was in 1968 that Nicolas Roeg became a director with the movie Performance (1970). While the film was produced in 1968, it would be shelved for two years because its distributor Warner Bros. was uncomfortable given its sexual content and violence. In the Seventies Nicolas Roeg directed Walkabout (1971). He followed it with the classic Don't Look Now (1973), now regarded by some as one of the greatest British films ever made. He followed Don't Look Now with The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), the cult classic starring David Bowie as an alien who visits Earth. He closed out the Seventies with the film Bad Timing (1980).

In the Eighties Nicolas Roeg directed the films Eureka (1983), Insignificance (1985), Castaway (1987), Track 29 (1988), and The Witches (1990). He directed one of the segments in the anthology film Aria (1987). In the Nineties he directed the films Cold Heaven (1991) and Two Deaths (1995). His last film was Puffball in 2007.

Mr.Roeg also did some work in television, directing the TV movie Sweet Bird of Youth (1989), the TV movie Heart of Darkness (1993), the 1996 mini-series Samson and Delilah, and a 1993 episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, among other projects.

Nicolas Roeg was certainly a talented director. His years as a cinematographer allowed him to make visually daring films in such a way that other directors couldn't. Mr. Roeg's films could also be challenging. Both Performance, Don't Look Now, and Bad Timing pushed the envelope as to what was acceptable in film at the time. Both Walkabout and The Man Who Fell to Earth were intellectually adventurous. Even when directing a more mainstream film, such as The Witches, Mr. Roeg went out on a limb with regards to the film's visuals and content. If Nicolas Roeg is remembered as a director, it is because he was a very singular one.