Oscar-Nominated Movie Figure Dead at 88: RIP to Adam Greenberg

Oscar-nominated cinematographer Adam Greenberg has died. He was 88.

His death was announced in a Facebook post by fellow cinematographer Avraham Karpick. The two worked together on J. Lee Thompson’s 1984 film The Ambassador.

“Adam did not speak to impress — he spoke to connect. He did not lead by direction — he led by example. He never commanded — he swam beside us, anchored in clarity, wisdom, and calm. Free of ego, far from vanity, he stayed above noise, gossip, and distraction,” he wrote. “Now we are left with echoes — of his words, his spirit, his way. Because whales never truly vanish. They become part of something deeper.”

Greenberg got his start as a film lab tech and a documentary cameraman in Tel Aviv, Israel in the 1950s and 1960s. He got his big break in the American film industry when he became James Cameron’s cinematographer for The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the latter of which earned him an Oscar nomination.

He also worked on movies like Once Bitten (1985), La Bamba (1987), Three Men and a Baby (1987), Turner & Hooch (1989), Ghost (1990), Sister Act (1992), Rush Hour (1998), Inspector Gadget (1999) and the Samuel L. Jackson-starring Snakes on a Plane (2006).