D.A. Pennebaker Dies: Cinematographer And Director Was 94

Anita Bennett

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D.A. Pennebaker, a cinematographer, director and master of cinema verite known for the 1967 documentary Don’t Look Back, has died. He was 94.

Don’t Look Back followed Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of England and the film picked up a string of awards. It was deemed culturally significant and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1998.

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Pennebaker’s other films included the 1973 David Bowie concert movie Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, and the 2000 film Down From the Mountain, about the musicians who performed the songs in the Coen Brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou?

The iconic filmmaker was nominated for an Oscar, along with his wife Chris Hegedus, for the 1994 doc The War Room about Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. Pennebaker received an honorary Oscar in 2013.

He and Hegedus made most of their films together over the past several decades. They shared an Emmy nomination for outstanding directing for a variety, music or comedy program for the documentary Elaine Stritch at Liberty. The film won Emmy Awards in two other categories in 2004.

Donn Alan Pennebaker was born on July 15, 1925 in Evanston, Illinois. He studied mechanical engineering at Yale and graduated in 1947. The young Pennebaker worked as an engineer and served in the Naval Air Corps during World War II, before embarking on a career in film.

Pennebaker was married three times. He is survived by his third wife, Chris Hegedus, and eight children.

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