Oscar-winning cinematographer Walter Lassally dies in Greece

ATHENS, Greece – Hospital officials on Greece’s island of Crete say German-born cinematographer Walter Lassally, who won an Academy Award for the 1964 movie Zorba the Greek, has died following complications from surgery. He was 90.

Lassally lived outside the city of Hania, near the beach that served as the backdrop for the movie’s final scene with actors Anthony Quinn and Alan Bates dancing to the music of Zorba the Greek.

Lassally moved to London as a boy, a refugee from Nazi Germany. He worked on dozens of movies, including the British comedy Tom Jones in 1963 and the drama Heat and Dust, directed by James Ivory 20 years later.

Hania mayor Tassos Vamvoukas expressed “deep sadness” at Lassally’s death.