In Memoriam: Denny Clairmont 1935-2020

In Memoriam

Denny Clairmont (1935-2020)

Credit: John Narvali

By Guido Kondruss

Denny Clairmont was an award-winning inventor, a renowned motion picture camera technician, a groundbreaking lens expert and the co-founder of one of the top camera rental houses in the world. To many he was mentor. To many more he was a dear friend and trusted colleague. To an industry he was an icon who became a legend. As a young boy growing up in North Hollywood, Denny didn’t want any part of the fi lm business. He’d done extra work in Hollywood, but the far too early mornings and the far too long working hours did not appeal to young Clairmont. Besides, his father was a cinematographer and he didn’t want to do what Dad did. But what he and his brother Terry (deceased 2006) did like were cars, very fast cars. So, aft er high school graduation, the Clairmont boys opened up “Fiasco Motors,” a quality hot rod and drag-racing speed shop. Th ey loved what they did, but there was a problem. Th ey were not making any money. Th ey did notice, however, that most of the guys coming with their cars into their chop shop worked in the fi lm industry and they seemed to always have plenty of cash. So, with the help of their father, Terry went on to be a successful cinematographer, while Denny moved into the fi lm camera rental business where he quickly became known as an expert camera and lens technician. Th rough his natural technical abilities and ingenuity, Denny became the go-to guy in Hollywood whenever something diff erent was needed to get that one-of-a-kind shot. Th e brothers Clairmont joined forces once again in 1976 when they co-founded Clairmont Camera in Hollywood. Right from the start, Denny’s mantra was quality and innovation. For specialty shots, Denny and his staff fi gured out how their cameras could be hit by trains, dropped by planes, burned by fl ames, and drowned, all while rolling fi lm capturing spectacular images. Denny was doing exactly what he learned to do in his dragster shop, only this time he was hot-rodding cameras and loving every minute. It’s been said that Denny never saw a motion picture camera he couldn’t improve beyond the factory specs. Denny’s particular profi ciency was with lenses. He and his expert technicians in Clairmont’s lens labs invented an array of specialty lenses with colourful names such as the Blurtar, Squishy lenses and the infamous Image Shaker used so eff ectively in Saving Private Ryan to make it appear the ground was shaking when a shell exploded. Denny received many accolades during his lifetime for his technical brilliance and wizardry. He was the 2012 recipient of the CSC’s Bill Hilson Award “for outstanding contribution to the development of the motion picture industry.” Th e Academy Awards honoured Denny with a Science and Technology Award in 1992, and again in 2011 with the prestigious John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation. In 2015, he received the Bud Stone Award of Distinction from the American Society of Cinematographers. While richly deserving of his awards, Denny always gave credit to cinematographers who presented their challenges, while he and his Clairmont staff simply provided the solutions to help them achieve their visions. Denny has also carved a place in Canada’s cinematic folklore as the spark that lit the west coast television boom. In the early 1990s, when Hollywood producer Stephen J. Cannell wanted to move some of his productions out of Los Angeles, he asked his friend Denny where he should go. Denny replied that Vancouver would be a great spot because it was close to L.A., had great crews and that Canadians were so damn nice. But Cannell said he wouldn’t jump unless Denny went too. So, Clairmont Camera expanded into Vancouver, and so did Stephen J. Cannell, who partnered with Paul Bronfman, cofounding North Shore Studios. When Denny retired in 2017, he sold Clairmont Camera Film & Digital – which was now also located in Toronto, Montreal and Albuquerque – to rival rental house, Keslow Camera. Denny Clairmont died May 11, 2020, aft er a fall at his home in Mill Valley, California. He was 84.