Kenneth Arthur Kelsch (July 8, 1947 – December 11, 2023) was an American cinematographer, teacher, and Vietnam veteran. He was best known for his guerilla filmmaking style and his career-spanning partnership with cult genre director Abel Ferrara, with whom he made more than 15 films.
His films include The Driller Killer (1979), Bad Lieutenant (1992), Dangerous Game (1993), Big Night (1996) and a Rear Window (1998) remake starring a paralyzed Christopher Reeve. On television, he was the director of photography on two seasons of Medium, several TV movies and, with Ferrara, one segment of the anthology series Subway Stories (1997).
In 1996, he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography for his work on The Funeral (1996).
Kenneth Arthur Kelsch was born in Brooklyn on July 8, 1947, and grew up in East Newark and North Arlington, New Jersey.[1] His mother was born in Scotland and his father was born in the Alsace region of France.[2] He was raised Catholic. He took an early interest in photography: he had his own darkroom at 12 years old and his father showed him how to develop black and white photographs. While still in high school, his father died while Kelsch had been attending his first week of seminary and his mother was two weeks pregnant.[3]
He studied photography at Montclair State College and New York University's Film & Television program.[4]
Kelsch attended Rutgers University for a year and enlisted in the army in 1966. As a Green Beret, he was the executive officer of an A-team during the Vietnam War and participated in SLAM (Search, Locate, Annihilate, and Monitor) operations in Laos[2] and CIA led cross-border operations in Cambodia.[4][5]
Upon returning to the States, Kelsch attended Montclair State University and worked for Johnson & Johnson making gaffer tape. He attended film school at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, graduating with an M.F.A. in 1977.[6][1] His cinematography professor was Czech filmmaker Beda Batka.
Actors he filmed include Danny Aiello, Asia Argento, Patricia Arquette, Seymour Cassel, Willem Dafoe, Benicio Del Toro, Drea de Matteo, Gérard Depardieu, Minnie Driver, Edie Falco, Danny Glover, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson, Allison Janney, Harvey Keitel, Madonna, Vincent Pastore, Chris Penn, Ron Perlman, Christopher Reeve, John Ritter, Isabella Rosellini, Kyra Sedgwick, Paul Sorvino, David Strathairn, Lili Taylor, Stanley Tucci, Christopher Walken, Sam Waterston and James Woods among others.
Kelsch taught cinematography at Montclair State University, Hofstra and Five Towns College in Long Island.[7]
Kelsch had four children, one of whom died before him.[1] His second wife was his assistant at NYU. On December 11, 2023, he died of COVID-19 and pneumonia at a hospital in Hackettstown, New Jersey, at the age of 76.[2][7]
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