Hollywood engineer, developer of Steadicam, dies.Associated Press
Malibu, Calif. - Edmund DiGiulio, a Hollywood technical innovator who
oversaw development of a stable-filming system known as the Steadicam,
has died. He was 76.
DiGiulio died at his home in Malibu west of Los Angeles on Friday
after a long struggle with congestive heart faliure, his wife, Louise,
said Tuesday.
Awarded a lifetime achievement Academy Award two years ago, DiGiulio
also received three technical awards and a medal commendation from the
academy.
In the 1970s, as head of Cinema Products Corp., DiGiulio directed the
creation of the Steadicam, a mounting system that provides stable
images while allowing operators to move freely with a movie camera
slung to their torsos. The system is a staple on movie sets today.
Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown and Cinema Products' engineering
staff received an Oscar for the system in 1978.
After graduating from Columbia University, DiGiulio went to work for
IBM in 1950, then went to Mitchell Camera Corp., where he worked on
advancements in film technology.
At Mitchell, DiGiulio developed a reflex-viewing system for movie
cameras that earned him his first technical honor at the Oscars in
1969. He received technical awards for other camera and film
advancements in 1993 and 1999.
At Cinema Products, DiGiulio worked on Stanley Kubrick's films
beginning with 1971's "A Clockwork Orange." Their collaboration
included development of ultra-high-speed lenses to capture candlelit
scenes in 1975's "Barry Lyndon."
"Ed was a technological guru, even for Oscar-winning technologists,"
said Don Rogers, former post-production chief at Warner Bros. "He
always had a twinkle in his eye and a smile in his voice."
A five-time chairman of the academy's Scientific and Technical
Committee, DiGiulio was a fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and
Television Engineers,
a fellow of the British Kinematograph Sound and Television Society and
an associate member of the American Society of Cinematographers.
Besides his wife, DiGiulio is survived by his daughter, Amanda
DiGiulio Richmond, and a granddaughter, Samantha Victoria Richmond.
A memorial service is planned for Saturday.
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