David E. Diano, a veteran camera operator with credits including Tombstone, The Fast and the Furious, Wedding Crashers and Spider-Man 3, has died. He was 71.
Diano died Jan. 22 at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena of coronary issues after a battle with prostate cancer, his wife, still photographer Gemma LaMana, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Diano served as president of the Society of Camera Operators from 2003-04 before deciding not to run for a second term.
“To write that David was a one-of-a-kind friend to those of us who worked with him would be an understatement,” SOC historical chair Michael Frediani said in a statement. “His kindness, artistry and boyish smile endeared him to countess friends and fellow industry colleagues — and that is what set him apart from many,”
Diano shot 17 movies for cinematographer William Fraker, a six-time Oscar nominee, from 1983-2002. Those films included War Games (1983), Murphy’s Romance (1985), Baby Boom (1987), Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Tombstone (1993), Father of the Bride Part II (1995), Town & Country (2001) and Waking Up in Reno (2002).
A native of Los Angeles, David Edward Diano graduated from Eagle Rock High School and UCLA before working as a camera operator on the 1980 releases How to Beat the High Cost of Living and The Formula.
He went on to work on such other features as Night Shift (1982), Leap of Faith (1992), Angels in the Outfield (1994), 2 Days in the Valley (1996), The Fast and the Furious (2001), Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003), National Treasure (2004), Wedding Crashers (2005), Spider-Man 3 (2007), You Don’t Mess With the Zohan (2008) and Little Fockers (2010).
Diano also manned a camera on the TV series Bones in 2013-15 and Bosch in 2015.
In addition to his wife — they were married in 1991, and she received a lifetime achievement honor from the SOC in 2001 — survivors include his sons, David and Sean.
