Victor J. Kemper has died: The former ASC president and cameraman on “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” and “And Justice For All” was 96

Victor J. Kemper, the former president of the American Society of Cinematographers, whose career spans four decades and films as diverse as Dog day afternoon And Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, has died, according to the ASC. He was 96.

Kemper made films with many of the greats of the 1970s, including John Cassavetes, Arthur Hiller, Michael Ritchie, Peter Yates, Sidney Lumet, George Roy Hill, Robert Wise, Carl Reiner, Richard Attenborough and Norman Jewison.

His very first film was Cassavetes’ spouseand that was an education in itself.

“We shot over 1.5 meters of footage over a period of ten weeks in New York and twelve weeks in London,” recalls Kemper. “That’s how Cassavetes worked.”

He continued Mikey and Nicky with the director.

Including rework The candidate and justice for all, Audrey Rose, Slap Shot, Oh God!, The Gambler, The Idiot, The Four Seasons, Coma, Mr. Mama, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Magic, Eyes by Laura Mars, Writer! Writer!, National Lampoon Holiday, Tommy boy, Beethoven And Sounds all the time.

Assessing his varied career, Kemper said that he finds it much more difficult to film comedies than dramas.

“Timing is crucial,” he says. “The reactions of the actors, the set and the environment are part of every joke. Everyone in the cast has to look in the right place at the right time and react flawlessly. It takes rehearsals, but if you prepare too much, the humor loses its edge and is no longer funny.”

In honor of his career, the American Society of Cinematographers named Kemper a 1998 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The association remembered him today with a post on social media that said, among other things, “It was with great sadness that we learned last night of the death of former association president Victor J. Kemper, ASC.”