# Hugo van Lawick
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{{Short description|Dutch film director (1937–2002)}}
{{Family name hatnote|Van Lawick|Lawick|lang=Dutch}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{More footnotes needed|date=April 2021}}
{{One source|date=April 2021}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Hugo van Lawick
| honorific_suffix =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = Hugo van Lawick (1969).jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Van Lawick in [Serengeti National Park](/source/Serengeti_National_Park) in 1969
| birth_name = Hugo Arndt Rodolf van Lawick
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1937|4|10}}
| birth_place = [Surabaya](/source/Surabaya), [Dutch East Indies](/source/Dutch_East_Indies)
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2002|6|2|1937|4|10}}
| death_place = [Dar es Salaam](/source/Dar_es_Salaam), [Tanzania](/source/Tanzania)
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[Jane Goodall](/source/Jane_Goodall)|1964|1974|reason=div}}
* {{marriage|Theresa Rice|1978|1984|reason=div}}
}}
| children = 1
}}
'''Hugo Arndt Rodolf, Baron van Lawick''' (10 April 1937 – 2 June 2002) was a Dutch [wildlife](/source/wildlife) [filmmaker](/source/filmmaker) and [photographer](/source/photographer).
Through his still photographs and films, Van Lawick helped to popularise the study of [chimpanzees](/source/Common_chimpanzee) during his wife [Jane Goodall](/source/Jane_Goodall)'s studies at [Gombe Stream National Park](/source/Gombe_Stream_National_Park) during the 1960s and 1970s. His films drew the attention of the viewing public to the dramatic life cycles of several wild animals of the [Serengeti](/source/Serengeti), such as [wild dogs](/source/African_wild_dog), [elephant](/source/elephant)s and [lion](/source/lion)s.
==Early life==
{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2025}}
Hugo Arndt Rodolf van Lawick was born in [Surabaya](/source/Surabaya) in the [Dutch East Indies](/source/Dutch_East_Indies) (now [Indonesia](/source/Indonesia)) on 10 April 1937 as the son of Baron Hugo Anne Victor Raoul van Lawick (11 August 1909 – 17 June 1941) and Isabella Sophia van Ittersum (11 February 1913 – 30 December 1977). His father was a pilot with the [Netherlands Naval Aviation Service](/source/Netherlands_Naval_Aviation_Service), and upon his death while in service, Isabella moved Hugo and his brother first to Australia, then to England, where they lived successively in London, [Hull](/source/Kingston_upon_Hull), and [Devon](/source/Devon). In the last, Hugo was enrolled in boarding school, where he remained after his mother and brother moved to the Netherlands shortly after the end of the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War). In 1947 he joined them in [Amersfoort](/source/Amersfoort).
==Photographer==
In November 1959 Van Lawick went to Africa to pursue his passion of photographing and taking footage of wild animals, finding employment as a cameraman for a filmmaking couple. After a film he produced as the background to a lecture given by [Louis Leakey](/source/Louis_Leakey) was seen by a staff member at ''[National Geographic](/source/National_Geographic_Society)'', he was given a retainer for future work for the magazine.
On the recommendation of Leakey, in August 1962 he began photographing and filming chimpanzees of the [Kasakela chimpanzee community](/source/Kasakela_chimpanzee_community) at [Gombe Stream National Park](/source/Gombe_Stream_National_Park) where [Jane Goodall](/source/Jane_Goodall), Leakey's protégée, had been researching chimpanzees since July 1960.[{{cite web |url= https://www.indiewire.com/awards/industry/jane-brett-morgen-jane-goodall-documentary-emmys-1201989082/ |title='Jane': Why It Didn't Make the Oscar Cut, But Could Finally Land an Emmy |last= Thompson |first= Anne |date= July 30, 2018 |website= Indie Wire |publisher= |access-date= November 20, 2025 |quote=}}] They married on 28 March 1964 in [Chelsea Old Church](/source/Chelsea_Old_Church), London.[{{cite web |url= https://eu.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/life/people/2024/04/03/jane-goodall-life-photos/73197778007/#:~:text=British%20primatologist%20Jane%20Goodall%20marries,where%20Goodall%20was%20studying%20chimpanzees.&text=Scientist%20Jane%20Goodall%20studies%20the,chimpanzee%20during%20her%20research%20Feb. |title= Primatologist Jane Goodall remade the world of anthropology; see her life in photos as she turns 91 |author= |date= May 18, 2025 |website= USA Today |publisher= |access-date= November 20, 2025 |quote=}}] They lived in [Tanzania](/source/Tanzania) for many years, both at Gombe and elsewhere on other research projects. In 1967 they had a son named Hugo Eric Louis, affectionately known as "Grub". They were [divorce](/source/divorce)d in 1974 but remained friends. On 23 March 1978, in [Banjul](/source/Banjul), [Gambia](/source/Gambia), Van Lawick married Theresa Rice. They were divorced on 19 January 1984.
Through Van Lawick's film ''People of the Forest'' viewers came to know members of Gombe's "F" family, namely Flo, Fifi and Flint, in addition to a number of their other immediate relations. By the time he stopped filming at Gombe, he had created a visual record spanning over 20 years and documenting the lives of three generations of chimpanzees.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} Van Lawick made a number of wildlife documentaries for television, but also made several films for theatrical release on [35 mm film](/source/35mm_movie_film), such as ''The Leopard Son'' (1996)[{{cite web | title='The Leopard Son' from the Discovery Channel: From the Theatre to Cable|first=Timothy |last=Lyons | website=[International Documentary Association](/source/International_Documentary_Association) | date=1 October 1996 | url=https://www.documentary.org/feature/leopard-son-discovery-channel-theatre-cable | access-date=30 April 2021| quote=On September 27th, in movie theatres across the country, Discovery Channel Pictures opened its first commercially-released full-length 35mm feature film, ''The Leopard Son''.}}] and ''[Serengeti Symphony](/source/Serengeti_Symphony)'', both produced by Nature Conservation Films WW. Besides making films himself, Van Lawick was an important influence and mentor to a younger generation of wildlife filmmakers. His tented camp, Ndutu, in the [Serengeti](/source/Serengeti), became through his guidance a breeding ground for new wildlife filmmakers.
==Death and honours==
{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2025}}
In 1998 Van Lawick was forced to retire due to [emphysema](/source/emphysema). He left Ndutu to live with his son, "Grub" in [Dar es Salaam](/source/Dar_es_Salaam), [Tanzania](/source/Tanzania), where he died on 2 June 2002 at the age of 65. On 7 June, during a ceremony attended by family, friends, staff and government officials, he was buried at the place his tent had stood for over 30 years in his camp in the Serengeti.
Van Lawick won eight [Emmy Awards](/source/Emmy_Awards) for his films, including the [Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program](/source/Primetime_Emmy_Award_for_Outstanding_Cinematography_for_a_Nonfiction_Program) sixteen years after his death for previously unreleased photography. He was appointed officer in the [Order of the Golden Ark](/source/Order_of_the_Golden_Ark) in 1992 by [Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands](/source/Prince_Bernhard_of_the_Netherlands), the co-founder of the [World Wide Fund for Nature](/source/World_Wide_Fund_for_Nature).
== Publications ==
* with Jane Goodall: ''Innocent Killers: A Fascinating Journey Through the Worlds of the Hyena, the Jackal, and the Wild Dog'' (1970) [{{cite web |url= https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/316358.Hugo_van_Lawick |title= Hugo van Lawick |author= |date= May 18, 2025 |website= Good Reads |publisher= |access-date= November 20, 2025 |quote=}}]
*with [Peter Matthiessen](/source/Peter_Matthiessen): ''Sand Rivers'', Aurum Press, London 1981, {{ISBN|0-906053-22-6}}.