EDMUND M. DIGIULIO, 76, LEADER IN MOTION PICTURE TECHNOLOGY, DIES

New York Times
By G. S. Bourdain
June 9, 2004

Edmund M. DiGiulio, an influential force in motion picture technology who won several Academy Awards for his innovations in cinematography, died on Friday at his home in Malibu, Calif. He was 76.

The cause was congestive heart failure, his family said.

Mr. DiGiulio (pronounced dee-JU-lee-oh) developed a reflex viewing system for the Mitchell Camera Corporation, where he worked after graduation from Columbia University in 1950 and a stint at I.B.M. The device earned him an Engineering and Scientific Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

He also developed the System-35 Mark II camera with video assist and camera control for three-camera filming, which was used for "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off."

In 1968 Mr. DiGiulio founded a company named Cinema Products and developed the CP-16 and CP-16R, Mickey-Mouse-eared television news cameras that were seen worldwide perched on television news reporters' shoulders in the predigital era. The CP-16 had another moment of fame in "The Blair Witch Project."

Mr. DiGiulio also developed the Steadicam, a motion picture camera stabilization system worn by camera operators. He, the inventor Garrett Brown and the company's engineering staff won an Oscar for the system in 1978.

He worked for many years on special projects with the director Stanley Kubrick, starting with "A Clockwork Orange," and developed the ultra-high-speed lenses that Kubrick used for the candlelit scenes in "Barry Lyndon."

At the Oscar ceremonies in 2001 Mr. DiGiulio received the Gordon E. Sawyer Lifetime Achievement Award for technological advances.

He was a chairman of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scientific and Technical Committee for five terms..

Mr. DiGiulio is survived by his wife of 47 years, the former Louise Brown; a daughter, Amanda Richmond of Los Angeles; a sister, Armida Clare of Huntington, N.Y.; a brother, Arnold, of Los Angeles; and a granddaughter.

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