Allen Daviau

77, Woodland Hills

Allen Daviau, the Academy Award-nominated cinematographer behind “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “The Color Purple” and “Bugsy,” died April 15 of complications from COVID-19. He was 77. Daviau was nominated for five Academy Awards, two of them for Barry Levinson collaborations: “Avalon” (1990) and “Bugsy” (1991). He was nominated for three others alongside Steven Spielberg: “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982), “The Color Purple” (1985) and “Empire of the Sun” (1987), for which he won a BAFTA award in Britain.

“In 1968, Allen and I started our careers side by side with the short film ‘Amblin’,’ ” Spielberg said in a statement. “Allen was a wonderful artist but his warmth and humanity were as powerful as his lens. He was a singular talent and a beautiful human being.”

Daviau was born in New Orleans on June 14, 1942, before relocating to Los Angeles with his family. He got his start shooting early music videos for the Who and Jimi Hendrix before transitioning to filmmaking.

Over the course of his decades-long career, he shot John Schlesinger’s “The Falcon and the Snowman” (1985), the Spielberg-produced “Harry and the Hendersons” (1987), Frank Marshall’s “Congo” (1995) and Stephen Sommers’ “Van Helsing” (2004), his final feature. He was awarded lifetime achievement awards from the Art Directors Guild in 1997 and the American Society of Cinematographers.

After a 2012 surgical procedure left him using a wheelchair, Daviau moved into a facility run by the Motion Picture and Television Fund in Woodland Hills, where he spent his final days after being diagnosed with COVID-19. He was the fourth resident at the facility to die from complications of the disease.