The veteran Iranian cinema photographer Asghar Bichareh passed away on Saturday, June 11, in Los Angeles.
Known as the oldest cinema photographer in Iran, Bichareh who was suffering from laryngeal cancer died in his apartment in LA, where he lived the last years of his life, on his 89th birthday, Honaronline reported.
Born in Tehran in 1939, Bichareh was also a film director, producer and actor. He entered cinema in 1933 when the filmmaker Abdolhossein Sepanta invited him to Germany to develop photographic work for ‘The Lor Girl’, the first Iranian talkie (opposite to silent film), for which Sepanta had written the script and also acted. The movie was screened in 1934 in Tehran and became a surprisingly major hit.
In later years, Bichareh was assigned to compile a large archive of photographic works which included the first photographs taken by the Qajar King Nasser ad-Din Shah. He also wrote a three-volume book on Iran’s cinema history.
He attended several photo exhibitions in Iran and abroad. As a photographer, he collaborated with 38 films and also played in 23 movies as an actor.
Bichareh once owned the largest collection of old cameras and cinema and theater photos.
Due to his good morale and likeable character he had many friends among a wide range of artists from writers and poets to cineastes, visual artists and musicians.
Art Deputy of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Moradkhani, said Bichareh’s body will be brought to Iran to be buried in the artists section of Tehran’s Behesht-e-Zahra Cemetery.
