Cinematographer Dennis Hall, 54, Dies on Location

Veteran TV cinematographer Denny Hall died Thursday morning after suffering a heart attack while working in New Orleans on Common Law, an upcoming scripted series for USA Network. He was 54.

A source close to the production told The Hollywood Reporter that Hall had chest pains while in his condo early Thursday and his camera operator called 911. Paramedics worked on him there and in the ambulance but couldn’t revive him. Hall had been in New Orleans for a couple of weeks.

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Producer Karim Zreik called the cinematographer the “captain of the team. We are just broken-hearted.”

“He could walk into a room that was deathly quiet or filled with negative energy and immediately liven everything up,” said cinematographer John C. Flinn III, who took Hall with him as his assistant on the 1980s TV shows Magnum, P.I. and Jake and the Fatman. “He was a great first assistant, a great cameraman and a great cinematographer. I’m so proud of him.”

Common Law, from CBS Television Studios, stars Michael Ealy and Warren Kole as cop partners who don't get along, so their captain sends them to couples therapy. Jon Turteltaub directed the pilot, and USA ordered 11 episodes in July.

A member of the International Cinematographers Guild, Hall also worked on such series as Burn Notice, Franklin & Bash, Eastwick, The Cleaner, Eli Stone, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Bones and Jack and Bobby.

He also served as a camera operator since the late 1980s on the shows Nashville Beat, Diagnosis Murder, Beverly Hills, 90210, CSI: Miami and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and on the 1996 film Barb Wire.

Hall is survived by his wife Julie and son Noah.

E-mail: Mike.Barnes@THR.com