Brian Tufano is dead: The cinematographer of “Trainspotting” and “Billy Elliot” was 83 years old

Brian Tufano, the veteran British cinematographer who films like a lens train spotting, Shallow graveand Billy Eliot, deceased. He turned 83.

Tufano’s agents at McKinney Macartney Management confirmed the news with Deadline. Jon Wardle, director of Britain’s National Film and Television School, where Tufano was previously head of department, also paid tribute to the cinematographer on Twitter.

“We are very sorry to report that film legend and former @NFTSFilmTV department head Brian Tufano has passed away,” the tweet read. “He made so many great films and did so much to nurture new talent, especially female DPs. We loved him and will REALLY miss him.”

Tufano was born in 1939 in Shepherd’s Bush, West London. He entered the film industry in 1956 as a page boy at Lime Grove Studios, a former BBC film and television studio. Tufano later obtained a technical apprenticeship with Public Broadcasting, where he worked for more than 20 years as a cinematographer on television films with directors such as Ken Loach, Ken Russell and Stephen Frears.

Tufano’s first post-BBC film was Jack Gold’s 1978 film The sailors return. He enjoyed a varied and extensive film career with many notable credits including quadrophenia (1979), east is east (1999), ed Billy Eliot (2000), for which he was nominated for Best Camera BAFTA. Tufano also received a BAFTA TV nomination in 1995 for his work on Anthony Pages mid March.

However, Tufano is perhaps best known for his work with British filmmaker Danny Boyle. The couple made four feature films together, including Boyle’s 1990s cult favorites train spotting and Shallow grave. Other film credits include Once in the Midlands (2002), maturity (2008), youth (2006) and All over (2011). He also provided additional photography for Ridley Scott’s classic Bladerunner.

In 2001 Tufano received a BAFTA for Outstanding Achievement in Film and Television and in 2002 won the Special Jury Award for Outstanding Contribution to Independent Film at the British Independent Film Awards.

Tufano had been semi-retired for the past ten years. His last film credit was gymnastA documentary that followed the British gymnastics team as they went to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.