Author

Robert Drew

Robert Drew, a 1955 Nieman Fellow, is an award-winning documentary producer. As an editor at Life, Drew specialized in the candid still picture essay. Among some hundred Drew films, those that established cinéma vérité in America include “Primary,” “On the Pole,” “Yanki No!,” and “Faces of November.”

“The Sense of Being Somewhere Else”

“The Sense of Being Somewhere Else”

Robert Drew, NF ’55, whose 1960 documentary about John F. Kennedy, “Primary,” is regarded as the start of American cinéma vérité, died July 30 at his home in Sharon, Connecticut.…
September 11, 2014
Robert Drew, NF ’55

Robert Drew, NF ’55

A pioneer of cinéma vérité, Drew in 1960 used portable sound and film equipment he helped develop to produce “Primary.” For that documentary, Drew was granted round-the-clock access to presidential…
September 18, 2013

A Nieman Year Spent Pondering Storytelling

‘TV documentaries were dull because they misused the medium.’
September 15, 2001