Walter Lassally, 1926-2017

The death of Oscar-winning cinematographer Walter Lassally has been announced. He was 90. Lassally, who won his Oscar for his camerawork on Zorba the Greek, lived on Crete near where the movie was filmed.

Lassally was actually born in Germany but fled the country in the late 1930s to escape the Nazis. He became known for his work with the British New Wave, doing movies such as A Taste of Honey and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, before gettin the job on Zorba the Greek. It wasn't the only movie Lassally did in Greece, as he followed it up with The Day the Fish Came Out.

Cinematographers don't get as much credit as they deserve, which is a shame since they bear a lot of responsibility for making the movies look as good as they do.