Celebrity Biographies
Peter Sova
Hailing from the former Czechoslovakia, he was a regular cinematographer for Barry Levinson and shot “Donnie Brasco” with Mike Newell. Peter Sova passed away on August 27, 2020, at the age of 75, at his home in South Kortright, New York, his family has announced. “I’ve lost my best friend and my greatest hero,” says Scottish filmmaker Paul McGuigan, with whom he regularly worked. “He was a master photographer with the heart of a true artist. Every day on set I always think about what he would do with the lenses before I started shooting.”
Born on September 3, 1944, Milan Peter Sova – his full name – tried to study directing at the Prague Film School, but failed to gain admission, so he trained as a machinist. After emigrating to New York at the age of 20, he got a contract at the ABC television network, where he was dedicated to repairing cameras.
He began his career as a cinematographer after volunteering for free to collaborate as a cinematographer on the short Short Eyes , directed by Robert M. Young in 1977, which featured real inmates at The Tombs, a Manhattan penitentiary. “Sometimes there were moments of tension with the inmates,” he explained in an interview in 2015. “I think they took advantage of the trip to put drugs and weapons inside the prison. In any case, they were always kind to me, because the prisoner liked me. be a refugee.”
He soon became a regular with filmmaker Barry Levinson , with whom he collaborated on four films, Diner , Hustlers and a Woman , Good Morning, Vietnam, and Jimmy Hollywood . He also constantly turned to Peter Sova , the aforementioned Paul McGuigan , under whose orders he was in titles such as Gangster No. 1 , The Wells Mystery , Obsession (2004) , The Slevin Affair and Push . He was responsible for lighting the gangster film Donnie Brasco , which was directed by Mike Newell .
He was united with his wife, Elizabeth, until her death in 2018. The couple only had one child.