James Glennon

1942 - 2006

An American cinematographer and the son of famed cinematographer Bert Glennon, James Glennon and his brothers learned photography at their father’s feet. (Their mother was script supervisor Mary Coleman.) James Glennon began work in the Warner Bros. mail room, where he often was assigned to make deliveries to studio head Jack L. Warner because the other mail clerks were afraid of Warner. Warner advised Glennon to buy a motion picture camera and rent it out, offering his own services for free. Glennon did so, and thus initiated his career as a cinematographer with Jaws of Death (1977). He continued to work as a camera operator on other cinematographers’ films, including The Conversation (1974), Electric Horseman (1979), Ordinary People (1980), Altered States (1980) and Taps (1981), before coming to notice as cinematographer on the groundbreaking El Norte (1983). He worked steadily thereafter including on Star Wars Episode VI Return of The Jedi and Weird
Science (1985). He filmed My Wicked, Wicked Ways… The Legend of Errol Flynn (1985) (TV), the story of the actor his own father had photographed in four films. He partnered with director Alexander Payne on three films: Citizen Ruth (1996), Election (1999), and About Schmidt (2002). He won an Emmy Award in 2005 for an episode of “Deadwood” (2004), the Western series for which he was principal cinematographer for its entire run. He was extraordinarily beloved of his crews and casts for his eternal optimism and unstinting praise and encouragement. Jim died unexpectedly on October 19, 2006, from a blood clot resulting from surgery for prostate cancer.