Hugo van Lawick

Hugo Arndt Rodolf, Baron van Lawick (10 April 1937 – 2 June 2002) was a Dutch wildlife filmmaker and photographer. Through his still photographs and films, Van Lawick helped popularize the study of chimpanzees during his wife Jane Goodall's studies at Gombe Stream National Park during the 1960s and 1970s. His films drew the attention of the viewing public to the dramatic life cycles of several wild animals of the Serengeti, such as wild dogs, elephants, and lions. Early life He was born in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) as the son of Baron Hugo Anne Victor Raoul van Lawick (11 August 1909 – 17 June 1941) and Isabella Sophia van Ittersum (11 February 1913 – 30 December 1977). His father was a pilot with the Dutch fleet, and upon his death while in service the Baroness moved Hugo and his brother first to Australia, then to England, where they lived successively, in London, Hull, and Devon. In the latter, Hugo was enrolled in boarding school, where he remained after his mother and brother moved to the Netherlands shortly after the end of World War II. In 1947, he joined them in Amersfoort. Photographer In November 1959, Hugo went to Africa to pursue his passion of photographing and taking footage of wild animals, finding employment as a cameraman for a filmmaking couple. After a film he produced as the background to a lecture given by Louis Leakey was seen by a staff member at National Geographic, he was given a retainer for future work for the magazine.