Jack Dunn William “Bill” Klages, a television lighting design pioneer and seven-time Emmy winner, died in Santa Monica, Calif., on July 7, his son Jonathan Klages confirmed.
He was 97. Klages won one Emmy Award for outstanding visual achievement in special visual effects and six for outstanding lighting direction for his work on “The Lie,” “Mitzi & 100 Guys,” “The Dorothy Hamill Special,” “The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of Performing Arts,” “Great Performances: Dance in America” and the 33rd Grammy Awards.
Klages was nominated for 21 Emmys throughout his career. In 2012, Klages became the first lighting designer to be inducted into the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.
Three years later, he was inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Klages entered the entertainment industry in 1948 when the NBC network hired him as a maintenance engineer at its flagship New York City studios.
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