Michael Ballhaus
Michael Ballhaus, A.S.C. (5 August 1935 – 12 April 2017) was a German cinematographer who collaborated with directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols and James L. Brooks. He was a member of both the Academy of Arts, Berlin, and the American Society of Cinematographers. Life and career. Ballhaus was born in Berlin as the son of German actors Lena Hutter and Oskar Ballhaus. Ballhaus was influenced by family friend Max Ophüls, and appeared as an extra in Ophüls' last film "Lola Montès" (1955). He came to prominence with his work with Rainer Werner Fassbinder beginning  with "Whity" (1971), in addition to "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant" (1972), "Chinese Roulette" (1976) and "The Marriage of Maria Braun" (1978). In 1990, he was the Head of the Jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival. After settling in the United States he worked on many American films, such as "Baby It's You" (1983) for John Sayles; "Old Enough" (1984) for Marisa Silver; "Under the Cherry Moon" (1986) for Prince; "After Hours" (1985), "The Color of Money" (1986), "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988), "Goodfellas" (1990), "The Age of Innocence" (1993), "Gangs of New York  (2002) and The Departed" (2006) for Martin Scorsese; "Broadcast News" (1987) and "I'll Do Anything" (1994) for James L. Brooks; "The Fabulous Baker Boys" (1989) for Steve Kloves; "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992) for Francis Ford Coppola; "Sleepers" (1996) for Barry Levinson; and "Wild Wild West" (1999) for Barry Sonnenfeld. Ballhaus appeared in Rosa von Praunheim's film "Fassbinder's Women" (2000). Ballhaus was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on "Broadcast News", "The Fabulous Baker Boys" and "Gangs of New York", but never won. Despite this, he did win the Chicago  Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography for his work on "Bram Stoker's Dracula"; both the Boston Society of Film Critics and Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography for his work on "The Fabulous Baker Boys"; and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography for his work on "Goodfellas". His documentary "In Berlin", made with Ciro Cappellari, was released in May 2009. Ballhaus's final film was Sherry Hormann's "3096 Days" in 2013. Personal life and death. Helga Maria Betten Ballhaus, Ballhaus' first wife from 1958, appeared in a handful of films , such as those directed by Fassbinder; she died in 2006. Their son Florian is also a cinematographer who worked on "Flightplan" and "The Devil Wears Prada". In 2011, he married German-American film director Sherry Hormann, who is known for "Desert Flower". Ballhaus was also a nephew of German stage and film actor Carl Balhaus, who starred in "The Blue Angel" and "M". Ballhaus died at his home in Berlin on 12 April 2017, at the age of 81, after a short illness.