# Richard Leiterman

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Canadian cinematographer

Richard Leiterman Born (1935-03-07)March 7, 1935 South Porcupine, Ontario, Canada Died July 14, 2005(2005-07-14) (aged 70) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

**Richard Leiterman** (March 7, 1935 – July 14, 2005) was a Canadian [cinematographer](/source/Cinematographer),[1] best known for [documentary](/source/Documentary_film) and [feature film](/source/Feature_film) work in the 1960s and 1970s. His [cinéma vérité](/source/Cin%C3%A9ma_v%C3%A9rit%C3%A9), or direct camera, style helped define [Canadian cinema](/source/Canadian_cinema) at the time.

## Biography

Born in the small town of [South Porcupine](/source/South_Porcupine%2C_Ontario)[2] in northern [Ontario](/source/Ontario) in 1935, the brother of film producer [Douglas Leiterman](/source/Douglas_Leiterman). He grew up in [Vancouver](/source/Vancouver), where he spent his young years working as a [waste collector](/source/Waste_collector), [beachcomber](/source/Beachcombing) and [truck driver](/source/Trucker). During his mid-20s, he was encouraged by his brother-in-law, [Allan King](/source/Allan_King), to take a camera technician course at the [University of British Columbia](/source/University_of_British_Columbia).

Leiterman took to the [film camera](/source/Camera) like a natural. He sold his car to buy a 16mm camera, and proceeded to shoot [stock footage](/source/Stock_footage), which he then sold to Canadian broadcasters like the [CBC](/source/Canadian_Broadcasting_Corporation). Hired by Allan King as a second [camera operator](/source/Camera_operator) on a documentary, Leiterman went to [London](/source/London) and, in 1962, co-founded Allan King Associates with him. The company focused on news-related filmmaking. In 1963, Leiterman went to the Southern U.S. to shoot *[One More River](/source/One_More_River)*, a look at [racism](/source/Racism) in America. Over the next few years, his documentary work took him around the world.

In 1969, Leiterman shot the Allan King-produced *[A Married Couple](/source/A_Married_Couple_(1969_film))*, which was featured at the [Director's Fortnight](/source/Director's_Fortnight) at the [1970 Cannes Film Festival](/source/1970_Cannes_Film_Festival). Leiterman next began a series of collaborations with famed Canadian director [Donald Shebib](/source/Donald_Shebib), starting with the Canadian classic *[Goin' Down the Road](/source/Goin'_Down_the_Road)* (1970), and followed by *[Between Friends](/source/Between_Friends_(1973_film))* (1973) and *[Wedding in White](/source/Wedding_in_White)* (1972). Leiterman used his documentary experience to provide a cinéma vérité look to his work.

Leiterman continued to shoot a variety of material over the following three decades, from Canadian features such as *[My American Cousin](/source/My_American_Cousin)* (1985) to American [made-for-TV movies](/source/Made-for-TV_movie) such as [Stephen King](/source/Stephen_King)'s *[It](/source/It_(1990_film))* (1990). His [cinematography](/source/Cinematography) work earned him a [Canadian Film Award](/source/Canadian_Film_Award) (1975) a [Genie Award](/source/Genie_Award), (1981), and the Kodak New Century Award (2000).

During the late 1990s, Leiterman shot the Canadian TV series *[Cold Squad](/source/Cold_Squad)*. He taught cinematography for a brief time in the [Advanced TV & Film](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Advanced_TV_%26_Film&action=edit&redlink=1) program and Media Arts program at [Sheridan College](/source/Sheridan_College) in [Oakville, Ontario](/source/Oakville%2C_Ontario), then finally retired.[3]

Leiterman died in Vancouver on July 14, 2005, at age 70 due to complications from a rare disease called [amyloidosis](/source/Amyloidosis).[3]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Reid, Alison (1978). [*Richard Leiterman*](https://archive.org/details/richardleiterman0000reid). Canadian Film Series. Canadian Film Institute. pp. [120](https://archive.org/details/richardleiterman0000reid/page/120). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0919096026](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0919096026).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Trial by fire, an interview with Richard Leiterman"](http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JSF/is_37_11/ai_87019611), *Take One (Canadian film magazine)*, 2002, retrieved April 1, 2014

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-StarObit_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-StarObit_3-1) ["Richard Leiterman"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-richard-leiterman/149714772/). *[Toronto Star](/source/Toronto_Star)*. July 17, 2005. p. 22. Retrieved June 20, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.

## External links

- [Richard Leiterman](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0500686/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States Czech Republic Spain Poland Israel Other IdRef Yale LUX

v t e Canadian Screen Award for Best Cinematography Canadian Film Award 1963–1978 Donald Wilder and Guy Borremans (1963) Stan Brede and John Spotton (1964) Francis Chapman, Christopher Chapman and Jean-Claude Labrecque (1965) Jean-Claude Labrecque and Georges Dufaux (1966) Gilles Gascon and Grahame Woods (1967) Georges Dufaux and Bernard Gosselin (1968) Réo Grégoire and Tony Ianzelo (1969) Bernard Chentrier (1970) Michel Brault (1971) Michel Brault (1972) Donald Wilder (1973) no award (1974) Paul Van der Linden (1975) Richard Leiterman (1976) Pierre Mignot (1977) Miklós Lente (1978) Genie Award 1980–2011 John Coquillon (1980) Michel Brault (1981) Richard Leiterman (1982) Michel Brault (1983) Pierre Mignot (1984) Pierre Mignot (1985) François Protat (1986) Pierre Mignot (1987) Guy Dufaux (1988) Peter Suschitzky (1989) Guy Dufaux (1990) Peter James (1991) Peter Suschitzky (1992) Alain Dostie (1993) Paul Sarossy (1994) Thomas Burstyn (1995) Peter Suschitzky (1996) Paul Sarossy (1997) Alain Dostie (1998) Paul Sarossy (1999) André Turpin (2000) Pierre Gill (2001) Paul Sarossy (2002) Allen Smith (2003) Paul Sarossy (2004) Giles Nuttgens (2005) Pierre Gill (2006) Peter Suschitzky (2007) Gregory Middleton (2008) Pierre Gill (2009) André Turpin (2010) Jean-François Lord (2011) Canadian Screen Award 2012–present Nicolas Bolduc (2012) Nicolas Bolduc (2013) André Turpin (2014) Yves Bélanger (2015) André Turpin (2016) Nicolas Bolduc (2017) Sara Mishara (2018) Norm Li (2019) Maya Bankovic (2020) Sara Mishara (2021) Sara Mishara (2022) Jared Raab (2023) Gayle Ye (2024) Jeremy Benning (2025) Note: From 1963 to 1969, two separate awards were consistently presented for colour and black-and-white cinematography. This distinction did not continue from 1970 on.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Richard Leiterman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Leiterman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Leiterman?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.