D. A. Pennebaker, the first documentary filmmaker to receive a lifetime achievement Oscar, has died at the age of 94 The Hollywood Reporter has reported.
Pennebaker might be best-known for his work capturing Bob Dylan on his 1965 tour of England in the film Don’t Look Back. His career started in 1953, with the film Daybreak Express, a short movie about the Third Avenue elevated subway station in Manhattan that was to be demolished a short time later. Pennebaker followed up his work with Dylan with the documentary of Dylan’s return to England a year later in 1966 with Eat the Document. The movie contains one of the most famous scenes in rock and roll history, when a fan at the Manchester Free Trade Hall concert, angered with Dylan going electric, shouted “Judas” at the singer-songwriter.
Pennebaker was able to capture some of the other most iconic music moments in the second-half of the 200th century, including 1968’s Monterey Pop, which captured performances from the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, including the Who, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding. Pennebaker also shot David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust phase, Alice Cooper and the Plastic Ono Band in 1969.
In 1993, The War Room, co-directed with his spouse Chris Hegedus, gave an inside look into the team that helped Bill Clinton win the 1992 presidential election, and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars in 1994.
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