George Riesenberger

George Riesenberger (1920–2011) was a lighting director and cinematographer who served in both capacities on Muppet productions: as lighting director for Sesame Street from seasons 2 through 9, and as director of photography on Rocky Mountain Holiday. He also served as lighting designer on the pilot Puppetman.
In his long career, Riesenberger was nominated for nine Emmy Awards and won two. He achieved two of his nods for his work on Sesame Street (in 1971 and 1972), and another nomination for his work on Rocky Mountain Holiday. Riesenberger also won four Cable ACE Awards.
The Brooklyn-born Riesenberger entered the film industry after serving as a radio operator during World War II. From 1946 to 1951, Riesenberger worked as a cameraman for RKO and Pathé News. This was followed by a lengthy stint (1951–1970) as lighting director for NBC, working on various programs such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Merv Griffin Show, Today, Meet the Press, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, That Show with Joan Rivers, and various dramas, soap operas, and commercials for Ford, Plymouth, Hoover, and other companies. During 1956–57, he was adviser to the Australian Broadcasting Commission, working in Australia on live and filmed programs as well as directing and photographing a number of documentaries there.
In 1970, Riesenberger joined Imero Fiorentino Associates, Inc., working for Sesame Street during his time as part of IFA (as would fellow IFA lighting directors David M. Clark, Tony DiGirolamo, Dick Weiss, and William Knight). Among Riesenberger's other notable lighting tasks during this period was the famous 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, and the 1974 special Monsanto Night Presents Benny Goodman (featuring Cleo Laine). Riesenberger later worked for the Klages Group in Hollywood.
Other, later lighting credits included episodes of the television series Stockard Channing in Just Friends, Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, The Magical World of Disney, Faerie Tale Theatre, The Cosby Show, The Bold and the Beautiful, and In Living Color, as well as various specials starring Liberace, Waylon Jennings, George Carlin, Alan King, Penn and Teller, Gallagher, John Paragon, and Red Skelton.
==Notes==
* During Riesenberger's time as lighting director on Sesame Street, he and his profession were referenced as an in-joke in an Alphabet Chat sketch about the letter O, wherein a crew member calls for "George" to dim the lights.
==External links==
* IMDb
* Obituary
* Emmy Award nominations and wins
* Imero Fiorentino Associates, Inc. - bio, ca. 1976
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Category:Cinematographers
Category:Lighting Crew