James Glennon

For the United States Navy officer, see James H. Glennon. For the Irish rugby player and politician, see Jim Glennon.

James Glennon
Born	(1942-08-29)August 29, 1942 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	October 19, 2006(2006-10-19) (aged 64) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Cinematographer
Years active	1970–2006
Spouse	Charmaine Witus (m. 1977)
Children	4
Parent	Bert Glennon (father)

James "Jim" Glennon ASC (August 29, 1942 – October 19, 2006) was an American cinematographer.

Career

Born in Los Angeles, California, Glennon was the son of cinematographer Bert Glennon and script supervisor Mary Coleman. Jim started off working in the Warner Bros. mail room where he became close with Jack Warner, being the only mail clerk not afraid of the fiery studio head. When a set PA on Gilligan's Island didn't show up for work, Jim was given his first on-set job. From there, he aimed to move into camera, like his father. Following the advice of Jack Warner, Jim bought a motion picture camera and rented it out, offering his own services as operator and DP for free. Thus, Jim initiated his career as a cinematographer with Jaws of Death (1977).

Jim continued to work as a camera operator on other cinematographers' films, including The Conversation (1974), Ordinary People (1980), and Altered States (1980), before coming to notice as cinematographer on the groundbreaking El Norte (1983). He worked steadily thereafter, including heading the American splinter unit for Return of The Jedi (1983), as DP for all the desert and forest scenes (uncredited).

He filmed My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn (1985), the story of the actor his own father had photographed in four films.

He partnered with director Alexander Payne on three films:Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt and others including .

In 2005, his work on the HBO television series Deadwood earned him an Emmy Award. Glennon also worked as director of photography on a number of other television movies and program series, such as The West Wing, along with Carnivàle and Big Love for HBO.

He was extraordinarily beloved of his crews and casts for his eternal optimism and unstinting praise and encouragement.

Personal Life

Jim was one of five Glennon boys: Bert, John, Jim, Michael, and Greg.

Jim had widely varied interests. He served repeatedly as a judge in the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

He operated Malibu Water Resources, a water aeration program that sold windmills and provided free information on how to naturally purify water. For example, to help people living in middle America, or anyone with arsenic in their well water, he found that as iron rusted, it would take the dangerous metal out of suspension. As a hobbyist / self-taught engineer, he could guild people through a cost effective way of making drinking water safer using simple tools anyone can afford -- like a handful of iron nails. He gave advice to people in need all around the world, taking calls from farmers in Iraq to Australia. He even donated windmills to those in need, including an orphanage in the Vietnam. Sadly, after his passing, his information site was taken down and his guidance lost to the world.

He farmed clams in the Pacific Northwest, owned a boar hunting ranch, restored old cars, and trained parrots.

Death

Glennon died unexpectedly on October 19, 2006, from complications (a blood clot) during surgery for prostate cancer. He was survived by his four children (by Charmaine Witus): Meghan Tilley (2006 actress as Meghan Glennon), Allison Glennon (producer), Andrew Glennon (reality TV personality), and Juliet Glennon.

Jim was also survived by his brothers, Bert Glennon (Los Angeles Supreme Court Judge of 35 years), John Glennon (National Champion in long-range rifle competition, founder of Valley Sound servicing all A-list bands in the 60s-80's, including: The Beatles, Jackson Five, David Bowie, Jimmy Hendrix, and the Rolling Stones, and co-inventor of the wah-wah pedal), and Greg Glennon (Military Veteran and AA sponsor to 1000's of people in Los Angeles in the course of his life).

Jim is buried at the Santa Barbara Cemetery with his wife Charmaine.

Selected filmography

As cinematographer

Year	Film	Director	Notes
1977	Jaws of Death	Richard Martin	Documentary
1981	Prisoners	Peter Werner
1983	El Norte	Gregory Nava
	Return of the Jedi	Richard Marquand	Location Director of Photography
1984	Up the Creek	Robert Butler
1985	Smooth Talk	Joyce Chopra
1986	One More Saturday Night	Dennis Klein
	Flight of the Navigator	Randal Kleiser
1987	Robocop	Paul Verhoeven	Uncredited
1988	A Time of Destiny	Gregory Nava
1990	A Show of Force	Bruno Barreto
1992	Me Myself & I	Pablo Ferro
1996	Citizen Ruth	Alexander Payne
1997	Best Men	Tamra Davis
1999	The Runner	Ron Moler
	Election	Alexander Payne
2000	South of Heaven, West of Hell	Dwight Yoakam
	Playing Mona Lisa	Matthew Huffman
2001	Viva Las Nowhere	Jason Bloom
2002	About Schmidt	Alexander Payne
	Local Boys	Ron Moler
	Life Without Dick	Bix Skahill	Straight-to-DVD
2003	The United States of Leland	Matthew Ryan Hoge
2005	The Big White	Mark Mylod
	Madison	William Bindley
2006	Room 10	Jennifer Aniston Andrea Buchanan	Short Film

External links

• James Glennon at IMDb
• Bert Glennon at IMDb
• Allison Glennon at IMDb
• [1] - Jim Glennon PBS Interview
• 2005 Emmy - Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series
• American Society of Cinematographers ~ ASC official website
• James Glennon Photos