Celebrity Biographies
Miroslav Ondricek
Czech cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek, a regular collaborator with film director Milos Forman on films like “Amadeus,” passed away on March 28, 2015 at the age of 80 from cancer. “For a month and a half, my father was hospitalized, with an induced coma for the last week,” said his son David Ondricek.
Born on November 4, 1934 in Prague, he made his film debut with the documentaries Kdyby ty muziky nebyly and Contest , by the then very young Milos Forman , who would make him his regular collaborator. Together they filmed in their country The loves of a blonde and To the fire, firefighters! , both nominated for a Foreign Language Film Oscar.
When the filmmaker was offered to emigrate to Hollywood, he had to collaborate with another operator, Haskell Wexler , for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest . But as soon as he had enough strength to demand, he took Miroslav Ondrícek with him to take care of the lighting for his next works, Hopeless Youth , Hair , and the films for which he won an Oscar nomination for photography Ragtime and Amadeus . Their joint collaborations closed with Valmont , from 1989.
The Czech also served as cinematographer on films by other directors such as The World According to Garp and Slaughterhouse Five , by George Roy Hill , Silkwood , by Mike Nichols , and Awakenings and They Strike , both by Penny Marshall . His son, the aforementioned David Ondrícek , works as a director and screenwriter in Czech films such as Samotári .