Allen Daviau

John Allen Daviau (June 14, 1942 – April 15, 2020)^[1] was an American cinematographer known for his collaborations with Steven Spielberg on E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), The Color Purple (1985), and Empire of the Sun (1987). He received five Academy Award nominations and two British Academy Film Award nominations, with one win. In addition to his work in film, Daviau served as Cinematographer-in-Residence at UCLA.^[2]

Allen Daviau
Born	John Allen Daviau (1942-06-14)June 14, 1942 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Died	April 15, 2020(2020-04-15) (aged 77) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Cinematographer
Years active	1967–2010
Relatives	Anne Rice (cousin) Alice Borchardt (cousin)

Career

Daviau was born on June 14, 1942, in New Orleans, and raised in Los Angeles. He graduated from Loyola High School in 1960.^[1]

He was introduced to Steven Spielberg in the late 1960s^[3] and the two went on to work together on two early short films. They continued their professional working career by collaborating on E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982); "Kick the Can," a segment from Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), The Color Purple (1985), an episode of the NBC anthology series Amazing Stories titled "Ghost Train" (1985), and Empire of the Sun (1987).^[3]

Daviau's work also includes John Schlesinger's The Falcon and the Snowman (1985), the Spielberg-produced Harry and the Hendersons (1987), Albert Brooks' Defending Your Life (1991), Barry Levinson's Avalon (1990) and Bugsy (1991), Peter Weir's Fearless (1993), Frank Marshall's Congo (1995), Rand Ravich's The Astronaut's Wife (1999) and Stephen Sommers' Van Helsing (2004), his final feature.

He received lifetime achievement awards from the Art Directors Guild in 1997 and the American Society of Cinematographers in 2007.^[4]

Daviau shot thousands of commercials, documentaries, industrials and educational films, and created psychedelic special-effects lighting for Roger Corman's The Trip (1967) before he gained entry into the International Photographers Guild.^[4]

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

While doing a lawnmower commercial in Arizona, Daviau learned that Spielberg was looking for a cinematographer for E.T. and sent the director a tape of The Boy Who Drank Too Much, a 1980 telefilm that he shot. "It had a lot of mood, and it's about kids, so I knew Steven would watch it!" Daviau said. Spielberg stated that he contacted Daviau for his next feature, saying, "I did something I rarely do. I didn't think twice; I picked up the phone and asked Allen if he would photograph my next feature."^[5]

Personal life and death

Following a surgical procedure in 2012, Daviau was confined to a wheelchair.^[1] He died on April 15, 2020, at the age of 77, as a result of complications from COVID-19 at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital.^[3]

Filmography

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1968	Amblin'	Steven Spielberg
1975	Names of Sin	Rolf Forsberg
1983	Kick the Can	Steven Spielberg	Segments of Twilight Zone: The Movie
	It's a Good Life	Joe Dante
2000	The Translator	Leslie Anne Smith
2001	Sweet	Elyse Couvillion
2002	The Routine	Bob Giraldi
2004	ASC-DCI StEM		Also writer
	How to Be a Hollywood Player in Less Than Ten Minutes	Joe Hudson
2010	The Caretaker 3D	Sean Isroelit	With Svetlana Cvetko

Documentary film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1971	Say Goodbye	David H. Vowell
1973	New Gladiators	Bob Hammer	With John Hora
2004	Olive or Twist 2004	Peter Moody	With Tchell De Paepe, Joachim Hanwright and Michael Knight

Feature film

Year	Title	Director
1973	The Brothers O'Toole	Richard Erdman
1974	Mother Tiger Mother Tiger	Rolf Forsberg
1982	Harry Tracy, Desperado	William A. Graham
	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	Steven Spielberg
1985	The Falcon and the Snowman	John Schlesinger
	The Color Purple	Steven Spielberg
1987	Empire of the Sun
	Harry and the Hendersons	William Dear
1990	Avalon	Barry Levinson
1991	Defending Your Life	Albert Brooks
	Bugsy	Barry Levinson
1993	Fearless	Peter Weir
1995	Congo	Frank Marshall
1999	The Astronaut's Wife	Rand Ravich
2004	Van Helsing	Stephen Sommers

TV movies

Year	Title	Director
1974	Mooch Goes to Hollywood	Richard Erdman
1979	The Streets of L.A.	Jerrold Freedman
1980	The Boy Who Drank Too Much
	Rage!	William Graham
1983	Legs	Jerold Freedman

TV series

Year	Title	Director	Episode
1982	McDonaldland	Lee Chapman	"Skating"
1985	Amazing Stories	Steven Spielberg	"Ghost Train"
1996	International Cinematographer's Guild Heritage Series	Jay Nefcy	"Vittorio Storaro"

Awards and nominations

Organization	Year	Category	Title	Result
Academy Awards	1982	Best Cinematography	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	Nominated
	1985		The Color Purple	Nominated
	1987		Empire of the Sun	Nominated
	1990		Avalon	Nominated
	1991		Bugsy	Nominated
American Society of Cinematographers	1987	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography	Empire of the Sun	Won
	1990		Avalon	Nominated
	1991		Bugsy	Won
BAFTA Film Awards	1982	Best Cinematography	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	Nominated
	1987		Empire of the Sun	Won
Boston Society of Film Critics	1982	Best Cinematography	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	Won
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association	1991	Best Cinematography	Bugsy	Nominated
National Society of Film Critics		Best Cinematography		Nominated
New York Film Critics Circle	1987	Best Cinematography	Empire of the Sun	Nominated