Ken Kelsch

Kenneth Arthur Kelsch was born in Brooklyn on July 8, 1947, and grew up in East Newark and North Arlington, New Jersey.^[2] His mother was born in Scotland and his father was born in the Alsace region of France.^[3] He was raised Catholic. He took an early interest in photography: he had his own darkroom at 12 years old and his father showed him how to develop black and white photographs. While still in high school, his father died while Kelsch had been attending his first week of seminary and his mother was two weeks pregnant.^[4]

He studied photography at Montclair State College and New York University's Film & Television program.^[5]

Kelsch attended Rutgers University for a year and enlisted in the army in 1966. As a Green Beret, he was the executive officer of an A-team during the Vietnam War and participated in SLAM (Search, Locate, Annihilate, and Monitor) operations in Laos^[3] and CIA led cross-border operations in Cambodia.^[6] He was a first lieutenant within the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group.^[5]

Upon returning to the States, Kelsch attended Montclair State University and worked for Johnson & Johnson making gaffer tape. He attended film school at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, graduating with an M.F.A. in 1977.^[7][2] His cinematography professor was Czech filmmaker Beda Batka.

Actors he filmed include Danny Aiello, Asia Argento, Patricia Arquette, Seymour Cassel, John Corbett, Gérard Depardieu, Willem Dafoe, Benicio Del Toro, Drea de Matteo, Gérard Depardieu, Minnie Driver, Edie Falco, Danny Glover, Isaac Hayes, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Michael Imperioli, Samuel L. Jackson, Allison Janney, Harvey Keitel, Madonna, Vincent Pastore, Chris Penn, Ron Perlman, Christopher Reeve, John Ritter, Isabella Rosellini, Annabella Sciorra, Kyra Sedgwick, Paul Sorvino, David Strathairn, Lili Taylor, Stanley Tucci, Christopher Walken, Sam Waterston and James Woods among others.

Between 1979 and 2019, Kelsch made thirteen films with director Abel Ferrara, including his first film The Driller Killer, and the critically acclaimed feature films Bad Lieutenant (1992) and The Funeral (1996), for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography.^[8]

Kelsch taught cinematography at Montclair State University, Hofstra and Five Towns College in Long Island.^[9]

Kelsch had four children, one of whom died before him.^[2] His second wife was his assistant at NYU. On December 11, 2023, he died of COVID-19 and pneumonia at a hospital in Hackettstown, New Jersey, at the age of 76.^[3][9]

• List of film director and cinematographer collaborations