06/15/2026
The Yale Film Archive celebrates the life and work of director, cinematographer, and editor Nick Doob (1947-2026), who passed away on Friday, June 12. An award-winning filmmaker, an alumnus of Yale College (BA ’69) and the Yale School of Art (MFA ‘73), Nick was a generous colleague and long-time friend of the YFA. Over the last decade, the YFA has preserved five of Nick’s films, made between his time at Yale and the late 1970s.
A long-time colleague of D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, Nick shot a number of Pennebaker Hegedus films including ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS (1979) and THE WAR ROOM (1993). Nick was also cinematographer for the Academy Award-winning films FROM MAO TO MOZART (1981) and SMILE PINKI (2008), and with co-director Shari Cookson he made a series of documentaries that aired on HBO, including COUNTRY DOCTOR (2025).
In 2015, Nick donated original film elements for many of his early films to the YFA, which made new preservation film masters and digital transfers of these films, including PLASTIC SAINTS (1968), 42ND ST MOVIE (1969), COSTUMED DANCER (1969), STREET MUSIC (1979), and LONDON SONGS (1973). (See them at bit.ly/yalenickdoob.) Nick joined us at Yale for screenings of all of these films, and, along with archivist Brian Meacham, shared some of these films with audiences at Metrograph and the Roxy Cinema in New York. Most recently, 16mm preservations of his films 42ND STREET MOVIE and STREET MUSIC screened at Club de l’étoile in Paris, France, in March. Nick was also a member of the May First Media collective, makers of the YFA-preserved MAYDAY (1970), filmed in New Haven.
Nick was unfailingly generous, humble, and full of fascinating stories about his time as film student and teacher at Yale, where he was involved in nearly every film production on campus for a time. We offer our condolences to his friends and family, and will miss Nick deeply. We continue to work to preserve his films, and are proud to steward this part of his filmmaking legacy into the future.
Photo: Brian Meacham and Nick Doob at Yale in 2019.
