Conrad Hall

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Conrad L. Hall (June 21, 1926 - January 4, 2003) was a top-billed Hollywood cinematographer. A three-time Academy Award-winner, he received Oscars for shooting Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), American Beauty (1999), and Road to Perdition (2002).

Born in Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia, he was the son of writer James Norman Hall and Sarah (Lala) Winchester Hall, who was part-Polynesian. Hall attended the University of Southern California intending to study journalism but drifted instead to the university's cinema school, from which he graduated in 1949. He worked on documentaries, in television (The Outer Limits) and minor films (including cult classic Incubus), and as a studio camera operator before moving up to cinematographer in major studio films in the mid 1960s.

Hall died in 2003 due to complications from bladder cancer. His Oscar nomination and award for his work on Road to Perdition were posthumous, and his award was accepted by his son, Conrad W. Hall, who is also a cinematographer.

Hall was and still is affectionately referred to as "Connie" by his peers and associates.