László Kovács

Biography

László Kovács was a Hungarian-American cinematographer who helped shape the American New Wave of the 1970s and worked often with Peter Bogdanovich and Richard Rush. Born in Cece, Hungary, he studied cinema in Budapest. He began on low-budget features, among them The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (1964), then broke through as director of photography on Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider (1969), which earned him second place for Best Cinematographer at the 1970 Laurel Awards. He filmed more than 70 motion pictures, including Five Easy Pieces, What's Up, Doc?, Paper Moon, Shampoo, New York, New York, Ghostbusters, Say Anything... and My Best Friend's Wedding, and he collected lifetime achievement awards from Camerimage, WorldFest and the American Society of Cinematographers. The 2008 documentary No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos traced his partnership with Vilmos Zsigmond.

74years old at death

Born May 14, 1933Cece
Died July 22, 2007Beverly Hills
Star sign: TaurusThe sign runs April 20 to May 20
Also credited as Laszlo Kovacs

Movie Career

Films: 4
Career span: 44 years1964 to 2008

Every film, newest first

2008No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & VilmosIMDb rating 7.8
1992Visions of LightIMDb rating 7.7
1964The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?IMDb rating 2.4
1964The Nasty RabbitIMDb rating 2.7

Genres

Did you know?!

Big break
Kovacs was reluctant to shoot Easy Rider because he had already worked on B movie biker films like Hells Angels on Wheels, and Dennis Hopper had to convince him the project would be different.
Getting ready for a role
During The Last Waltz, Kovacs either missed or ignored orders to shut his camera off during Muddy Waters' set, making him the only cameraman to capture the whole performance.
A first
Kovacs' last credit was Torn from the Flag, a 2006 documentary on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution that used footage he and Zsigmond had shot as students.