Born in Indonesia, as son of Hugo Anne Victor Raoul Baron van Lawick and Isabella Sophia Baroness van Ittersum, Hugo developed an early love of animals and determined that film would be his medium. He was since his youth facinated with photography and this resulted in his later years in becoming the best filmer of Natural Life.
In 1959 he was a stills and cinema cameraman for Dutch film companies on location in Kenya.
By 1962, he was covering East Africa for the National Geographic Society. Hugo was sent to The Gombe Reservation in Tanzania to register some of the amazing discoveries that primate researcher Jane Goodall had made during her study of chimpanzees, beginning a long creative relationship that sustained his art and detailed research into the predators of the plain. Over a period of twenty years Hugo filmed the lives of three generations of chimpanzees. It took him five years to edit the hundreds of hours of valuable material into the feature film "People of the Forest".
The wildlife researcher, Jane Goodall, was his wife and collaborator for many years; together they wrote and produced many films and books.
For more than thirty years Hugo van Lawick living and worked close to the grass of the African plains. He was part of the conservation structure of Tanzania and enjoyed complete access. This intimacy and experience made him our most distinguished recorder of natural drama. He became the authority on African wild dogs, and an expert on the behaviour of many other species: golden jackals, hyenas, leopards and, of course, chimpanzees.
Hugo Baron van Lawick is a most respected naturalist and can be seen as the natural history writer of Eastern Africa, who records on film the diversity and natural resources, that may never be seen again, through the eyes of an artist and with the accumulated knowledge, patience and precision of a scientist. His knowledge of wildlife's natural behaviour and his characteristic 'sympathetic observation' style of filming are unique. In his films the animals tell their own story. The grace and perception of his extraordinary films have given him no less than eight EMMY awards and numerous other prizes.
Hugo was exceptionally dedicated to his work as a cameraman. Filming was his life. He expected the same attitude of all his crew members. He always worked according to the same principle:place strong emphasis on the individual character of each animal, rather than just seeing them as representatives of a particular species.
Biography:
Born : April 10 1937, Soerabja, Indonesia Died : June 2 2002, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Countries of Residence :
. Indonesia 4 years
. Australia 1 year
. Great Britain 5 years
. The Netherlands 12 years
. Kenya 2 years
. Tanzania 40 years
Marital status :
. married March 28, 1964 Tasmania (to Valerie Jane Morris Goodall) divorced 1974
. married March 23, 1978 Gambia (to Therese Rive) divorced January 19th 1984
Children :
. Hugo Eric Louis (Grub) Van Lawick, born March 4 1967, Nairobi.
Hugo's films are for sale again: visit BOL.com for more info.
Hugo's films are for sale again: visit BOL.com for more info.
Films and awards 1960 - 1961
2nd Cameraman & cameraman:
6 films for ''On Safari' tv-series (Armand & Michaela
Denis)
Cameraman :
6 films for National Geographic Society lectures by Dr. L.S.B.
Leakey and Dr. Jane Goodall
Cinematographer
- 'The Hidden World of Insects' 1966 (National Geographic Special for TV)
- 'Winged World' 1967 (National Geographic Special for TV)
1968 - 1999
Co-Producer & Chief cameraman
- 'Among the Wild Chimpanzees' 1984 2Emmy Awards (Producer & cameraman)
Kodak Prism Award (Cameraman)
Producer / Director& Cameraman
- 'The Wild Dogs of Africa' 2Emmy Awards (Producer & Director)
Golden Hugo
(Producer)
Golden Eagle
(Producer)
Atlanta Silver Star Producer)
Cinematographer
- 'Birds Do It, Bees Do It' 1974
- 'Monkeys, Apes & Man' 1971 (National Geographic Special for TV)
- 'The Baboons of Gombe' 2 Emmy Awards
(Editing & sound mix)
- 'The Hyena Story'
- 'Lions of the Serengeti' (British Academy
Nomination for
Producer)
- 'Stella and the Apes of Mount Assirik'
- 'People of the Forest' (see also under 35mm-Theatrical), 1965, 2Emmy
Awards(Producer & Research)
Pacific
- 'Cheetahs, The Blood Brothers' , 1993
- 'African Wild Dogs, A Tale of Two Sisters'
- 'Cheetahs in the Land of Lions'
- 'Race for Life' (Wildebeest migration)Emmy nomination
- Bradford
Eashburn Award (Museum of Sciences, Boston)
- George Foster Peabody 1992 , 'People of the Forest: The Chimps of Gombe'
- De Orde van de Gouden Ark 1992, (The
Netherlands)
- Order of the United Republic of Tanzania (Tanzania)
- L'Ordre du Merit (Republic of Senegal)
- North Star Award (Jules Verne Film Festival, Paris)
- The Wildscreen Trust Panda Award for Outstanding
Achievement "Outstanding Achievement Award
given to mark a globally significant contribution to wildlife film-making, conservation and the public’s understanding of the environment" ( Wildscreen
2000, Bristol)
Producer / Director & Cameraman
- 'People of the Forest: The Chimps of Gombe' George
Foster Peabody 1992
- 'The Leopard Son' Okomedia
- 'Serengeti Symphony'
Executive Producer (* : films which include HvL's work as cameraman)
- 'Monkeys in the Mist' - 'Islands in the African Sky' - The Golden Family' - 'Climbing Kilimanjaro' - 2 x Lions (Discovery) - Cheetahs * 'Wings over the Serengeti' * 'In the Wildest Africa' * "Born to run' * 'The Weavers Tale' * 'A Tall Story' * 'Top Dogs under Dogs'
- Innocent Killers (with Jane Goodall) , 1971
A fascinating journey through the worlds of the hyena, the jackal and the wild dog.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
(ISBN
0395121094, ASIN 0395121094)Abstract
- Grub, the Bush Baby (with Jane Goodall) , 1988 (?) (ISBN 0395486955, 0395486963)
- Solo, The Story of an African Wild Dog (with Jane Goodall) , 1972,
Publisher: Collins London, Edition:also Fontana p/b 1976 (ISBN
, 0002167549, 0395183219)
- Sand Rivers (with Peter Matthiesen), 1981, Publisher: Aurum (or Viking
Press) New York, John Burroughs Medal (ISBN
0553013742, 0670616966)
- Last days in Eden (with Elspeth Huxley), 1984, Publisher: Harvill Press
London (ISBN
0943276020)
- Among Predators and Prey: A Photographer's Reflections on African
Wildlife, 1986, Publisher: Elm Tree Books London (ISBN
0871567741)
- Savage Paradise: The Predators of Serengeti , 1977, Publisher: William
Collins plc London (ASIN 0688032354)
- My Friends the Wild Chimpanzees (National Geographic Society), 1960 (ISBN 1199702765)
- Wild Dogs of Africa, 1993
Most Photos in the following books by Jane Goodall
- My Friends, the Wild Chimpanzees
- In the Shadow of Man , 1971, Publisher: Houghton Miffin Company Boston
(ISBN
0618056769, 0395331455,0395127262)
- The Chimpanzees of Gombe
Did you ever work with Hugo on any project or do you have a story about him, please do not hesistate to contact me! I would like to gather information and personal stories about Hugo and his work for others to read. Please contact me via Artick or e-mail for more information.
Interview with Hugo from: Arts & Culture, Rush Fall '98
Hugo van Lawick - Cameraman and producer
