Born: 4 April 1940, Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles, as Robert Müller. His father was engineer with Shell. Raised in Indonesia [until 1954].

Education: Nederlandse Film Academie [NFA] [1962-64, camera/editing dept.], Amsterdam.

Career: After his study he stayed for a short period in Holland, then went to Germany with doph Gerard van den Berg.

Ph commercials dir by Hans Jonkers, Maarten Treurniet, Jonathan David [for Coca Cola], Zoran Bihac, Carl Erik Rinsch, etc. Directed [+ ph; for Outcast Pictures] his first commercial, 'Radio 1', in 2002. Is honorary member of the NSC.

Appeared in the doc's 'Kamera klaar... Aktie - Geluiden van achter de kamera' [1987, Ruud van Gessel; ph: Jan de Bont], 'Motion & Emotion' [1990, Paul Joyce; ph: Ken Morse; 90m], 'De domeinen Ditvoorst' [1993, Thom Hoffman; ph: Peter de Bont; 112m] & 'Foot on the Moon' [1999; dir/ph: Marie-Claire Pijman]. Book: 'Die lyrische Leinwand' [2006, Schüren Presseverlag].

Awards: Bundesfilmpreis [1975] for 'Falsche Bewegung'; Bundesfilmpreis [1983] for 'Klassenfeind'; DKP Spielfilm [1984] & Bayerischer Filmpreis [1985] for 'Paris, Texas'; Independent Spirit Award nom [1987, 1988, 1990 & 1997]; Bundesfilmpreis [1991] for 'Korczak'; NYFCC Award [1996; + for 'Dead Man'], Camerimage 'Golden Frog' nom [1996] & 'Robert' Award [1997] for 'Breaking the Waves'; Camerimage 'Special Award for Best Independent Duo' [1998; shared with Jim Jarmusch]; Camerimage 'Golden Frog' nom [1999] for 'Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai'; Camerimage 'Golden Frog' nom [2000] & 'Robert' Award nom [2001] for 'Dancer in the Dark'; Brothers Manaki IFF 'Special Golden Camera 300' [2002] for exceptional contribution to the world film art; Marburger Kamerapreis [2003]; DKP Ehrenkameramann [2005]; Camerimage Lifetime Achievement Award [2006]; Nederlands FF 'Gouden Kalf Cultuurprijs' [2007]; Bert Haanstra Oeuvreprijs [2008].

Robby Müller: 'There are many films made today where the color is not really necessary, but you don't have a choice because the distributor wants color so he can sell it. But I always have a kind of 'thinking exercise' with the director, 'Why not in b&w?' or 'Why not in color?' So if we explain it to ourselves we know where we have to pay attention because, if you make the kind of films I generally make, color could give you too much information. 'Alice in the Cities', for instance, would have been very bad in color. The same with 'Down by Law'. You would have had so much information around you that it would distract you from what you are telling. 'Alice' was originally planned for color. We even had a sponsor, Polaroid, who was bringing out that same year the SX-70 [a compact, reflex-viewing camera for Polaroid film] on a trial market in Florida and they agreed to sponsor us. But when Wim and I discussed it I said this will be no good in color; this little girl will be totally lost in this loud, exotic New York. Polaroid later agreed but they didn't withdraw their sponsorship.' [From interview with Lindsay Amos in Sydney, Australia, June 1993 - Moviexpress.]

1963        Megalopolis 1 [Pim de la Parra] b&w; short/?m

1963        Vogel [Miroslav Sebestik] b&w; short/?m; prod NFA

1964        De lengte van een ster [Fred van Doorn] b&w; short/?m; prod NFA

1966        Norwegian Wood [Barbara Meter] 16mm/b&w-c; short/10m

1966        Eiland/Island [Erik Terpstra] b&w; short/19m; cph: Gerard Vandenberg

1967        Now I Found That the World Was Round [Anton Kothuys] 16mm/c; doc/?m

1967        Don't Miss, Miss Pizz Italian Flavored Pizza [Anton Kothuys] c; short/?m

1967        Objectief gezien [Fred van Doorn] 16mm/b&w; short/18m

1967        Bacher [Tom Tholen] c; doc/20m; cph: Anton van Munster; addph: Jan de Bont, Jan Oonk, a.o.; uwph: Bob Smith

1967        Toets/Touch [Tom Tholen] scope/c; doc/17m; cph: Eduard van der Enden & Anton van Munster

1968        She Is Like a Rainbow [Anton Kothuys] c; short/18m; cph: Gerard Vandenberg & Karsten Krüger

1968        Alabama: 2000 Light Years [Wim Wenders] b&w; short/22m; cph: Wim Wenders; prod HFF

1969        Jonathan [Hans W. Geissendörfer] c

1969        Frankenstein cum cannabis [Nico Paape] ?; short/?m; cph: ?

1969        Summer in the City [Wim Wenders] 16mm/b&w; prod HFF

1970        Het bezoek [Frans van der Staak] 16mm/b&w; short/21m

1971        Overload/Geen statiegeld [Mel Clay] 16mm/b&w; cph: Mel Clay, a.o.

1971        Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter/The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty [Wim Wenders] c

1972        Can Free Concert [Peter Przygodda] 16mm/c; concert film/51m; cph: Martin Schäfer & Egon Mann

1972        Der scharlachrote Buchstabe/The Scarlet Letter [Wim Wenders] c

1973        Die Reise nach Wien [Edgar Reitz] c

1973        Alice in den Städten/Alice in the Cities [Wim Wenders] 16mm-35bu/b&w

1974        Ein bißchen Liebe [Veith von Fürstenberg] 16mm/b&w

1974        Falsche Bewegung/Wrong Movement/Wrong Move [Wim Wenders] c

1975        Es herrscht Ruhe im Land [Peter Lilienthal] 16mm-35bu/c; cph: Abel Alboim

1975        Im Lauf der Zeit/Kings of the Road [Wim Wenders] b&w

1975        Nathalie [Gila von Weitershausen] ?; short/?m

1976        Atavar, the Return of the Wolf [Meino Zeillemaker] c; short/53m

1976        Die Wildente/The Wild Duck [Hans W. Geissendörfer] c

1976        Der amerikanische Freund/The American Friend [Wim Wenders] c; spec ph efx: Theo Nischwitz

1977        Die linkshändige Frau/The Left-Handed Woman [Peter Handke] c

1977        De gevoelens van een rode patrijs door hemzelf verteld [Frans van der Staak] 16mm/b&w; short/?m; cph: Karel

                    Dibbets & Frans van der Staak

1977        Die gläserne Zelle/The Glass Cell [Hans W. Geissendörfer] c

1978        Mysteries [Paul de Lussanet] c

1979        Saint Jack [Peter Bogdanovich] c

1979        Opname/In for Treatment [Erik van Zuylen & Marja Kok] 16mm/c

1979        Striptease [Frans Weisz] ?; short/23m

1979        Honeysuckle Rose/On the Road Again [Jerry Schatzberg] p/c

1980        Hammett [Wim Wenders] scheduled as doph, but replaced by Joseph Biroc because of union restrictions 

1980        They All Laughed... [Peter Bogdanovich] c

1981        Der Zauberberg [Hans W. Geissendörfer] RM started the film, but left after an argument with the producer; he was

                    replaced by Walter Lassally, who was replaced by Michael Ballhaus

1981        Les îles/The Islands/Die Inseln [Iradj Azimi] c; cph: Willy Kurant

1981        Een zwoele zomeravond/A Hot Summer Night [Frans Weisz & Shireen Strooker] 16mm-35bu/c

1982        Klassen-Feind/Class Enemy [Peter Stein] c

1982        Un dimanche de flic/Zwei Profis steigen aus/A Cop's Sunday [Michel Vianey] c

1983        Tricheurs/Cheaters/Die Spieler [Barbet Schroeder] c; + small part

1983        Paris, Texas [Wim Wenders] c; add 2uc: Martin Schär

1984        Repo Man [Alex Cox] c; addph: Robert Richardson, Tom Richmond & Mike Little; 2uc: Stephen Posey

1984        Body Rock [Marcelo Epstein] c; addph: Ed Lachman & Burleigh Wartes

1984        To Live and Die in L.A. [William Friedkin] c; 2uc: Robert Yeoman (+ ph 1st unit to replace RM who could not finish

                    the prod)

1985        Fool for Love [Robert Altman] started the prod, but was replaced by doph Pierre Mignot

1985        The Longshot [Paul Bartel] c; 2uc (+ c.op): Paul Edwards

1985        Down by Law [Jim Jarmusch] b&w

1986        The Believers [John Schlesinger] c; 2uc: Peter R. Norman

1987        Barfly [Barbet Schroeder] c

1987        Il piccolo diavolo/The Little Devil [Roberto Benigni] c

1988        Mystery Train [Jim Jarmusch] c

1989        Coffee and Cigarettes II/Coffee and Cigarettes: Memphis Version [Jim Jarmusch] b&w; short/8m; ed into 'Coffee

                    and Cigarettes' as 'Twins' (see Films, 2003)

1989        Aufzeichnungen zu Kleidern und Städten/Notebook on Cities and Clothes [Wim Wenders] v+16mm+35mm-

                    35bu/c; doc/81m; cph: Muriel Edelstein, Wim Wenders, Masatoshi Nakajima, a.o.

1989        Korczak [Andrzej Wajda] b&w

1990        Bis ans Ende der Welt/Until the End of the World [Wim Wenders] c; 2uc: Benedict Neuenfels; 2uc France: Theo

                    Bierkens; addph: Joel Peterson

1991        Mad Dog and Glory [John McNaughton] c; addph: Jeffrey Jur

1992        When Pigs Fly [Sara Driver] c

1993        Three Years After My Death [Alejandro Agresti] ?

1994        Hoogste tijd/Last Call [Frans Weisz] c

1994        Jenseits der Wolken/Par-delà les nuages/Al di là delle nuvole/Beyond the Clouds [prologue/interludes/epilogue

                    dir by Wim Wenders] c; scenes dir by Michelangelo Antonioni were ph by Alfio Contini

1994        Dead Man [Jim Jarmusch] b&w; 2uc: Chris Lombardi

1995        Breaking the Waves [Lars von Trier] s35/c; 2uc: Eric Kress; sfx ph: Jan Weincke

1996        The Tango Lesson [Sally Potter] b&w-c

1997        Shattered Image [Raúl Ruiz] c

1998        Buena Vista Social Club [Wim Wenders] DigiBeta-to-35mm/c; doc/101m; cph Amsterdam: Jörg Widmer; ph New York:

                    Lisa Rinzler; ph Cuba: Jörg Widmer

1998        Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai [Jim Jarmusch] c; 2uc: Chaim Kantor

1999        Dancer in the Dark [Lars von Trier] DVcam-to-35mm/c; 2uc: Eric Kress; dance seq ph: Anthony Dod Mantle, Jan

                    Weincke, a.o.

2000        My Brother Tom [Dom Rotheroe] DVcam-to-35mm/c

2001        24 Hour Party People [Michael Winterbottom] dv-to-35mm/c

2002        Poem - Ich setzte den Fuß in die Luft, und sie trug/Poem - I Set My Foot Upon the Air and It Carried Me [Ralf

                    Schmerberg] b&w-c; 19 seg; ph seg 'Gesang der Geister', 'Nach grauen Tagen' & 'Der Schiffbrüchige'; other ph: Darius

                    Khondji, Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein, Nicola Pecorini, a.o.; filmed April 2000-April 2002; seg 'Nach grauen Tagen' also

                    released separately

2003        Coffee and Cigarettes [Jim Jarmusch] b&w; 96m; cph: Tom DiCillo (1986), Fred Elmes (1993) & Ellen Kuras; ed from 3

                    'Coffee and Cigarettes'-films (1986, 1989 & 1993) and other shorts

1967        Der Fall Lena Christ [Hans W. Geissendörfer] tvm/b&w/16mm

1969        Die Anpassung [Christian Rischert] tvm/b&w/16mm

1970        Eine Rose für Jane [Hans W. Geissendörfer] tvm

1970        Pakbo [Volker Koch] tvm

1971        Carlos [Hans W. Geissendörfer] tvm

1972        Marie [Hans W. Geissendörfer] tvm

1973        Die Eltern [Hans W. Geissendörfer] tvm

1973        Perahim - die zweite Chance [Hans W. Geissendörfer] tvm

1974        Wandas Paradies [Christa Maar] tvm

1975        [Das] Double [Christa Maar] tvm

1977        Das Ende einer Karriere [Christa Maar] tvm/16mm

1984        Finnegan Begin Again [Joan Micklin Silver] tvm

1990        Red Hot + Blue [video 'Night & Day' dir by Wim Wenders] mus special/88m for ABC-tv; other ph: Tom Sigel, Ed Lachman,

                    Steven Chivers, a.o.; also released on DVD (AIDS Benefit collection of 18 music videos)

2004        Visions of Europe [seg 'Prologue' dir by Béla Tarr] tvm/25seg/b&w-c/140m

1964        Aah... Tamara [Pim de la Parra Jr.; short/28m] co-c.asst/co-still ph

1964        Een zondag op het eiland van de Grande-Jatte [Frans Weisz; short]

1965        Een ochtend van zes weken/Un printemps en Hollande/A Morning of Six Weeks [Nikolai van der Heyde]

1966        Het gangstermeisje/Illusion Is a Gangstergirl [Frans Weisz]

1966        Der Beginn [Peter Lilienthal; tvm]

1966        Bächlein räuschen [Peter Lilienthal]

1966        To Grab the Ring [Nikolai van der Heyde] co-c.asst

1967        Liebe und so weiter [George Moorse; tvm]

1968        Ich bin ein Elefant, Madame [Peter Zadek] co-c.asst

1969        11.50 from Zürich [Nikolai van der Heyde; short]