Born: 28 May 1931, Astoria, New York City, N.Y., USA. His father was a make-up man at the Warner Bros. Studio in Brooklyn, New York, during the 1930's.

Career: Was actor and set designer in summer stock theatre. During the Korean War, he spent four years in the Air Force on a motion picture unit photographing instructional films. 'After the war, in 1956, Willis returned to New York, where he worked as a freelance assistant cameraman.  The tv industry was undergoing vigorous growth, and New York was a creative focal point for commercial production. There was also much creative work being done in the documentary genre. "In those days, you could cross back and forth between operating on commercials and shooting documentaries, and in my opinion there was no better way to learn," he says.' [From the ASC website.]

Appeared in the doc's 'Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography' [1991], 'To Woody Allen, From Europe with Love' [1980, André Delvaux; ph: Walther Vanden Ende & Michel Baudour], 'The Godfather Family: A Look Inside' [1991, Jeff Werner; 73m], 'Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood' [2002, Kenneth Bowser; ph: Paul Mailman; 119m] & 'Cinematographer Style' [2005, Jon Fauer (JF); ph: JF, Jeff Laszlo, Brian Heller & David Morgan].

Directed and ph the feature film 'Windows' [1979].

Awards: As doph: NSFC Award [1975] for 'The Godfather, Part II'; NSFC Award [1975] for 'The Parallax View'; BAFTA Film Award nom [1977] for 'All the President’s Men'; BAFTA Film Award nom [1980] for 'Manhattan'; NSFC Award [1982] and BSFC Award [1982] for 'Pennies from Heaven'; NYFCC Award [1983], 'Oscar' AA nom [1984] and BAFTA Film Award nom [1984] for 'Zelig'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1991] and ASC Award nom [1991] for 'The Godfather, Part III'; ASC Lifetime Achievement Award [1995]; AMPAS Governors Award - Honorary 'Oscar' [2009].

As dir: 'Razzie Award Worst Director' nom [1981] for 'Windows'.

Gordon Willis was on the leading edge of a New Wave of cinematographers who were changing the art form in radical ways. In 'The Godfather', he selectively masked Marlon Brando's eyes to conceal his thoughts from the audience. "I still can't believe the reactions," he says. "People said, 'You can't see his eyes [Brando's].' Well, you didn't see his eyes in 10 percent of the movie, and there was a reason why. I remember asking, 'Why do you have to see his eyes in that scene? Based on what?' Do you know what the answer was? 'That's the way it was done in Hollywood.' That's not a good enough reason. There were times when we didn't want the audience to see what was going on in there [Brando's eyes], and then suddenly, you let them see into his soul for a while." Willis was different in other ways. He was an outsider who lived on the East Coast, and did most of his best work there. He was also was an outspoken advocate for the creative role that cinematographers play in the collaborative art of filmmaking at a time when most of his peers believed it was prudent to stay in the background. One veteran cinematographer from that period candidly admits, "I would have been fired if I lit the way Gordon did. The studios wanted to always see the actor's eyes, and they didn't want windows blown out, or flaring lights." [From the ASC website.]