LOS ANGELES, Feb. 14 Charles S. Swartz, credited with pushing the film industry into the digital age, died of pneumonia in a Los Angeles hospital at the age of 67.
He was one of the fathers of digital cinema, Jerry Pierce of Universal Pictures, told the Los Angeles Times. Charles played an important role in bringing people into the same tent to nudge digital technology in the right direction.Digital cinematography captures images on media capable of recording digital data.
While executive director of USC's Entertainment Technology Center, Swartz established a digital cinema lab considered a premier testing ground for new technologies.
Early in his career, Swartz collaborated with his wife, Stephanie Rothman, who survives him, on several B movies.
By the early 1970s, Swartz was in charge of acquisition and production at Dimension Pictures. He then became an education specialist and manager at UCLA Extension's Department of Entertainment Studies and Performing Arts.
He also was director of business development for the entertainment industry for Anderson Consulting (now Accenture) and director of integrated strategy for the e-consulting firm Sapient.
Swartz, who died Saturday, retired from his USC post last year.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
