# Ken Kelsch

Kenneth Arthur Kelsch (July 8, 1947 – December 11, 2023) was an American cinematographer, teacher, and Vietnam veteran. He was best known for his guerilla filmmaking style and his career-spanning partnership with filmmaker Abel Ferrara, with whom he made more than a dozen films, including The Driller Killer (1979), Bad Lieutenant (1992), Dangerous Game (1993), The Addiction (1995), The Blackout (1997), and Welcome to New York (2014), as well as a segment of the HBO dark comedy drama anthology series Subway Stories (1997).
On television, Kelsch was the director of photography for the pilot episode of the CBS crime drama series Hack (2002) and the first and second seasons of the NBC supernatural procedural drama series Medium (2005–06). He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography for his work on The Funeral (1996).

## Early life

Kenneth Arthur Kelsch was born in Brooklyn on July 8, 1947, and grew up in East Newark and North Arlington, New Jersey. His mother was born in Scotland and his father was born in the Alsace region of France. He was raised Catholic. He took an early interest in photography: he had his own darkroom at 12 years old and his father showed him how to develop black and white photographs. While still in high school, his father died while Kelsch had been attending his first week of seminary and his mother was two weeks pregnant.
He studied photography at Montclair State College and New York University's Film & Television program.

## Military life

Kelsch attended Rutgers University for a year and enlisted in the army in 1966. As a Green Beret, he was the executive officer of an A-team during the Vietnam War and participated in SLAM (Search, Locate, Annihilate, and Monitor) operations in Laos and CIA led cross-border operations in Cambodia.

## Film career

Upon returning to the States, Kelsch attended Montclair State University and worked for Johnson & Johnson making gaffer tape. He attended film school at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, graduating with an M.F.A. in 1977. His cinematography professor was Czech filmmaker Beda Batka.
Actors he filmed include Danny Aiello, Asia Argento, Patricia Arquette, Seymour Cassel, John Corbett, Gérard Depardieu, Willem Dafoe, Benicio Del Toro, Drea de Matteo, Gérard Depardieu, Minnie Driver, Edie Falco, Danny Glover, Isaac Hayes, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Michael Imperioli, Samuel L. Jackson, Allison Janney, Harvey Keitel, Madonna, Vincent Pastore, Chris Penn, Ron Perlman, Christopher Reeve, John Ritter, Isabella Rosellini, Annabella Sciorra, Kyra Sedgwick, Paul Sorvino, David Strathairn, Lili Taylor, Stanley Tucci, Christopher Walken, Sam Waterston and James Woods among others.
Between 1979 and 2019, Kelsch made thirteen films with director Abel Ferrara, including his first film The Driller Killer, and the critically acclaimed feature films Bad Lieutenant (1992) and The Funeral (1996), for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography.
Kelsch taught cinematography at Montclair State University, Hofstra and Five Towns College in Long Island.

## Personal life and death

Kelsch had four children, one of whom died before him. His second wife was his assistant at NYU. On December 11, 2023, he died of COVID-19 and pneumonia at a hospital in Hackettstown, New Jersey, at the age of 76.

## Filmography
### Feature films

| Year | Title | DP | Notes |
| 1972 | The Last House on the Left | No | Gaffer |
| 1979 | Don't Go in the House | No | Actor |
| 1979 | The Driller Killer | Yes | |
| 1986 | Spookies | Yes | |
| 1992 | Bad Lieutenant | Yes | |
| 1993 | Dangerous Game | Yes | |
| 1994 | Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker | Yes | TV movie |
| 1994 | Drop Squad | Yes | |
| 1995 | The Addiction | Yes | |
| 1995 | Condition Red | Yes | |
| 1995 | Killer: A Journal of Murder | Yes | |
| 1996 | Big Night | Yes | |
| 1996 | The Funeral | Yes | |
| 1997 | The Blackout | Yes | |
| 1997 | Every 9 Seconds | Yes | |
| 1998 | Montana | Yes | |
| 1998 | New Rose Hotel | Yes | |
| 1998 | A Brooklyn State of Mind | Yes | |
| 1998 | The Impostors | Yes | |
| 1998 | New Rose Hotel | Yes | |
| 1998 | Susan's Plan | Yes | |
| 1998 | Rear Window | Yes | TV Movie |
| 2000 | It Had to Be You | Yes | |
| 2000 | Private Lies | Yes | |
| 2001 | 'R Xmas | Yes | |
| 2003 | Testosterone | Yes | |
| 2003 | Happy End | Yes | |
| 2005 | Missing in America | Yes | |
| 2005 | Before It Had a Name | Yes | |
| 2008 | Chelsea on the Rocks | Yes | |
| 2008 | 100 Feet | Yes | Actor |
| 2008 | Return to Sleepaway Camp | Yes | |
| 2009 | Desert Flower | Yes | |
| 2013 | House of Last Things | Yes | |
| 2011 | 4:44 Last Day on Earth | Yes | |
| 2014 | Welcome to New York | Yes | |
| 2016 | The Brooklyn Banker | Yes | |
| 2019 | The Projectionist | Yes | Doc |

### Television

| Year | Title | DP | Notes |
| 1997 | Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground | Yes | Segment "Love on the A Train" |
| 1999 | Now and Again | Yes | |
| 2000 | The $treet | Yes | |
| 2002 | Hack | Yes | |
| 2005-2006 | Medium | Yes | |
Music videos
| Year | Title | DP | Notes | Ref |
| 1995 | California by Mylène Farmer | Yes | | |