'24' cinematographer Rodney Charters dies at 77

Rodney Charters, the New Zealand-born cinematographer who shaped the look of Fox's 24, has died at age 77.

He died suddenly on Sept. 13 in Amsterdam, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Charters was born on Nov. 25, 1948, and grew up in New Plymouth, New Zealand. He built a long career in American television as a cinematographer, the person who leads the camera and lighting teams and sets how a show looks on screen.

His defining credit was 24, the Fox drama starring Kiefer Sutherland. Charters worked on the series from 2001 to 2010.

In that time he shot 184 episodes. That covered all but eight episodes across the first eight seasons. He also shot the 2008 telefilm 24: Redemption. He did not work on the ninth season, Live Another Day, in 2014.

His work on 24 earned him Emmy nominations in 2005 and 2006. He became a member of the American Society of Cinematographers in 2004 and received its Career Achievement in Television Award in 2013.

He held the professional designations ASC, CSC and NZSC. They reflect his standing with cinematography organisations in the United States, Canada and New Zealand.

Charters had a wide list of credits beyond 24. He shot 57 episodes of The Pretender during its 1997-2000 run. He then shot 19 instalments of the second season of Roswell in 2000-01.

Later work included the first three seasons of Shameless from 2011 to 2013. He also shot the first three seasons of the Dallas revival at TNT from 2012 to 2014. He then worked on the first two seasons of the Magnum P.I. reboot at CBS in 2018-19.

The American Society of Cinematographers has published an In Memoriam tribute titled "In Memoriam - Rodney Charters, ASC, CSC, NZSC (1948-2026)," according to the Society.