Celebrity Biographies
Fred J Koenekamp
He illuminated notable titles of the 70s, such as “Papillon”, won the Oscar as cinematographer for “The Burning Colossus”, and was also nominated for “Patton” and “Goodbye Island”. Fred J. Koenekamp passed away at the age of 94, on May 31, 2017. The news was reported by Kathy Guyitt, his daughter.
Born on November 11, 1922, in Los Angeles, Fred J. Koenekamp was the son of a filmmaker, Hans F. Koenekamp, who had begun his career as a cinematographer on titles such as Mickey , a silent tragicomedy in the service of Mabel Normand, but later he retrained as a special effects technician on titles such as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Strangers on a Train .
Fred began his career at the age of 25, as a person in charge of transporting material at RKO, and later as a cameraman on various series, until he made his debut as a television photography director on El agente de CIPOL . In cinema, he succeeded as a regular collaborator with director Franklin J. Schaffner . After Patton , for which he obtained his first Oscar nomination, he collaborated with him on Papillon , and on Goodbye Island , which would earn him another nomination. He got the statuette with the catastrophist The Colossus in Flames , from 1974. He also worked on titles like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls , Champion and The Amityville Horror. He retired after Flight of the Intruder , 1991.